The Directors Guild of America mourns the passing of acclaimed Director and longtime member Mark Rydell.
A member of the Guild since 1963, Rydell devoted decades of service to his fellow members and to the DGA. He served on the National Board from 1987 to 1991, with one term as a First Alternate and another as a Board Member. He was also active on the DGA’s Western Directors Council for more than two decades, serving in numerous capacities between 1982 and 2007. He also served on the DGA’s Negotiating Committee in 1977 and 1981.
Rydell began his directing career in television in the 1960s, helming episodes of series including Ben Casey, I Spy, The Fugitive and Gunsmoke, before making his feature directorial debut with The Fox in 1967. Over the decades that followed, he directed an acclaimed body of work that included the features The Reivers, The Cowboys, Cinderella Liberty, The Rose, On Golden Pond, The River and For the Boys. He later returned to television for projects including the movies for television Crime of the Century and James Dean.
Rydell received two DGA Award nominations, one in Feature Film category for On Golden Pond in 1981 and another in the Movies for Televisions and Mini-Series category for James Dean in 2001.
In 2003 and 2004, Rydell was interviewed as part of the DGA’s Visual History Program. The full interview is available here.
The DGA extends its deepest condolences to Rydell’s family, friends, and colleagues. His contributions to the Guild and the craft of directing will be long remembered.
