How did Tom Luddy die? Film producer who co-founded Telluride Film Festival dies at 79
BERKELY, CALIFORNIA: Tom Luddy the co-founder and artistic director of the Telluride Film Festival who produced films like 'The Secret Garden' and 'Barfly', died on Monday, February 13. Luddy died peacefully in Berkeley, California, after battling a long illness. He was 79. The festival announced Luddy’s death on Monday morning.
Luddy who championed world cinema was one of the unsung heroes of the movie business. Luddy graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a film degree in 1965 and also worked at Berkeley-based Pacific Film Archive in the 1960s and later served as director of special projects for Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope.
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How did Tom Luddy Die?
The "rare ingredient", Tom Luddy as per the Deadline had dementia and was under care for the same at a nursing home in Berkeley, California. “The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” said Julie Huntsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival.
“I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a Sphinxlike quality that took a little time to get around, for some. But once you knew him, you were welcomed into a kingdom of art, history, intelligence, humor, and joie de vivre that you knew you couldn’t be without. He made life richer. Magical.”
Tom Luddy's impressive career
Born on June 4, 1943, in New York City Luddy produced a handful of features and documentaries during his career while supporting such international filmmakers as Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Chris Marker, Abel Gance, Dusan Makavejev, Werner Herzog, Barbet Schroeder, and Agnieszka Holland. In 1974, Luddy launched the nonprofit Telluride Film Festival with Bill Pence and Stella Pence, who worked for the art-house label Janus Films and owned a small chain of Colorado movie theaters, and film preservationist James Card the Hollywood reporter mentions.
Luddy served as a member of the New York Film Festival’s selection committee for three years and he was on the board of the San Francisco Film Festival for many years. Luddy also was appointed as an American Jury Member at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, under the chairmanship of Louis Malle, and served on the jury for the Moscow and Berlin Film Festivals in 1979 and 1987, respectively.
Luddy is survived by his wife, Monique Montgomery; siblings Brian Luddy, James Luddy, and Jeanne Van Duzer; nephews Stevens and Will Van Duzer; and nieces Dierdre Pino, Megan Archer, and Caroline Van Duzer.