Jonathan Reynolds Wiki – Jonathan Reynolds Biography
Jonathan Reynolds, a playwright and screenwriter whose series of film credits in the 1980s included the comedies Micki & Maude, Channel switching, My stepmother is an alien and the notorious failure Leonard part 6, died October 27 of organ failure at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 79 years old.
His death was announced by the family to The New York Times. A prolific Off-Broadway playwright, Reynolds’ plays included the acclaimed 1982 Hollywood satire. Geniuses, produced by Playwrights Horizons and based on the diaries Reynolds wrote during his three months in the Philippines to watch the infamously difficult shoot of Francis Ford Coppola. Apocalypse now.
A planned book on the making of the film never went to print, but his satirical work was a hit with audiences and critics alike. And Reynolds would have an even more lasting connection to Apocalypse now: Contributed, without crediting, a line of dialogue that is among the most remembered of the actor Robert Duvall. When enthusiastic and wave-loving Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore is told that he can’t surf near the battlefield, he responds, “What do you know about surfing, Captain? You’re from New Jersey.”
Reynolds’ first credited film was Micki and Maude in 1984, a romantic comedy film about a love triangle starring Dudley Moore, Ann Reinking, and Amy Irving. A modest success, the film was followed in 1987 by what would become a legendary failure: Leonard part 6, a spy parody that even its star Bill Cosby publicly despised.
Reynolds did better with his next screenplay, 1988 Channel change, another love triangle comedy, this time inspired by His girl on friday and starring Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds and Christopher Reeve.
Reynolds returned to the romantic comedy genre, now with a sci-fi twist, with 1988 My stepmother is an alien starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd. The film, poorly received, would mark its final script, although it received a credit for the 1992 story. The distinguished gentleman starring Eddie Murphy.
The writer would find a more welcoming and long-lived place within the New York theater community, where his many theatrical productions over the decades included Stonewall Jackson House, a recommendation from the Pulitzer Drama Jury; Yanks 3 Detroit O Top of the 7th, Gomas, Fighting International Fat, Tunnel Fever or The Sheep is Out, and Dinner with demons.
Although he continued to write plays well into the 21st century (he received a Playwrights Guild award for sustained achievement), Reynolds branched out in 2000 when he began a six-year stint writing a weekly food column for The New York Times Sunday Magazine. . His memories Struggle With sauce: a life, with food was published in 2008.
A resident of New York City and Garrison, NY, Reynolds is survived by his wife Heidi Ettinger, a Tony Award-winning Broadway set designer; sons Edward and Frank Reynolds; stepchildren North, Nash, and Dodge Landesman; and two grandchildren.
The Guild mourns the loss of DG’s life member Jonathan Reynolds.
A valued Council member, Jonathan served as Treasurer for five years. She also received the Flora Roberts Award, in recognition of her commitment to the theater community.
May your memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/IJv1O5jEdr
– Dramatists Guild (@dramatistsguild) November 8, 2021