Jonathan Kaplan, the five-time Emmy-nominated director/producer of ER and filmmaker behind projects like The Accused, Bad Girls and Unlawful Entry, has died at the age of 77, per multiple media reports.
His daughter Molly Kaplan said he died Friday at his home in Los Angeles of advanced liver cancer.
Kaplan was born in Paris on Nov. 25, 1947 to industry veteran parents, father Sol Kaplan, a film and TV composer, and mother Frances Heflin, a regular on ABC soap All My Children. He began his career as a child actor in the Broadway production of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, helmed by Elia Kazan. Later, he earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago and studied film at New York University, where he was taught by Martin Scorsese.
It was the Goodfellas director who recommended him to Roger Corman, who in turn called Kaplan to offer him his directorial debut, 1972’s sexploitation flick Night Call Nurses, which was followed by another in 1973’s The Student Teachers. That year, he also directed The Slams for Corman’s brother, producer Gene Corman. Afterward, he helmed blaxploitation Truck Turner.
In 1975, he directed his first major studio movie, Columbia Pictures’ White Line Fever (1975), starring Jan-Michael Vincent in the crime neo-noir. His subsequent directorial credits include Mr. Billion, Over the Edge and TV movies like The Gentleman Bandit. Outside of film, he directed music videos for Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart and John Mellencamp.
