Alexander Grasshoff (December 10, 1928 â€" April 5, 2008) was an
American documentary filmmaker and director who received 3 Oscar
nominations.Along with fellow producer Robert Cohn, he is possibly
best known for writing and directing the documentary Young Americans,
which "won" an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in April
1969. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences soon
found out the film had been shown first in October 1967, thus making
it ineligible for a 1968 award and the Oscar status was revoked.
Grasshoff, who reportedly slept with the Oscar on the first night,
also directed Academy Award-nominated films The Really Big Family
(1966) and Journey to the Outer Limits (1973). He also directed the
award-winning The Wave (1981), based on Ron Jones' The Third Wave
experiment, and Future Shock (1972), based on Alvin Toffler's book and
hosted by Orson Welles.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Grasshoff earned
a bachelor's degree in cinema at the University of Southern California
and began his career in the mail room of Paramount in 1951 working up
to assistant editor, then editor. He made his directoral debut in a
crime film The Jailbreakers released by American International
Pictures that Grasshoff also wrote and produced.Grasshoff died on
April 5, 2008 at his home in Los Angeles of complications from bypass
surgery on a leg. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Madilyn
Clark Grasshoff, and two sisters, Yrsa Grasshoff and Edith Rand.
American documentary filmmaker and director who received 3 Oscar
nominations.Along with fellow producer Robert Cohn, he is possibly
best known for writing and directing the documentary Young Americans,
which "won" an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in April
1969. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences soon
found out the film had been shown first in October 1967, thus making
it ineligible for a 1968 award and the Oscar status was revoked.
Grasshoff, who reportedly slept with the Oscar on the first night,
also directed Academy Award-nominated films The Really Big Family
(1966) and Journey to the Outer Limits (1973). He also directed the
award-winning The Wave (1981), based on Ron Jones' The Third Wave
experiment, and Future Shock (1972), based on Alvin Toffler's book and
hosted by Orson Welles.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Grasshoff earned
a bachelor's degree in cinema at the University of Southern California
and began his career in the mail room of Paramount in 1951 working up
to assistant editor, then editor. He made his directoral debut in a
crime film The Jailbreakers released by American International
Pictures that Grasshoff also wrote and produced.Grasshoff died on
April 5, 2008 at his home in Los Angeles of complications from bypass
surgery on a leg. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Madilyn
Clark Grasshoff, and two sisters, Yrsa Grasshoff and Edith Rand.
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