Bob Rafelson, director of “My Life Is My Life”, dies at 89

One of the most prominent members of 70’s New Hollywood has passed away. Director and producer Bob Rafelson has died at the age of 89 in Aspen, Colorado., as confirmed by his wife Gabrielle Taurek. The cause of death was not specified, but his assistant assured him that he died peacefully and surrounded by his family.

Born in New York, he often ran away as a young man to try all kinds of hobbies, such as being part of a jazz band. During his time in the military, he was stationed in Japan, where he worked on film translation and as a consultant for a distributor who wanted to find those that might have commercial appeal in the United States. Upon his return, he began working on television scripts for “Play of the Week”, “The Witness” or “The Greatest Show on Earth”. When his family moved to Hollywood, he began working as an associate producer in various studios and at Screen Gems he met Bert Schneider..

The monkeys

Together they would found Raybert Productions, then BBS Productions. His crown jewel was “The Monkees”, the series about a rock group that was a hit with the public and catapulted the band to the charts. Rafelson won an Emmy for Best Comedy.. His first film as a director was “Head,” a psychedelic journey that was a box office failure and critic, but marked his first collaboration with Jack Nicholson, who co-wrote the film.

Rafelson and Nicholson would have collaborated six times, being her biggest hit “My Life is My Life”, a film that received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Supporting Actress for Karen Black and Best Original Screenplay. Rafelson also directed “The King of Marvin Gardens”, “Muscles of Steel”, “The Postman Rings Always Twice”, “Mountains of the Moon” and “For No Reason”, his latest feature film. As a producer, he was behind ‘Easy Rider (Looking for my destiny)’ and ‘The Last Movie’.

In 1955 she married Toby Carr and they had two children. Her daughter Julie died at the age of 10 in a propane explosion. Bob and Toby divorced but maintained a close friendship. Rafelson remarried in 1999 to Gabrielle Taurekwith whom he had two children.