Ivan Passer

Biography

Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as Born to Win (1971), Cutter's Way (1981) and Stalin (1992). Passer was born in Prague, the son of Marianna (Mandelick) and Alois Passer. Passer attended King George boarding school in Poděbrady with future filmmakers Miloš Forman, Jerzy Skolimowski and Paul Fierlinger and statesman Václav Havel. He then studied at FAMU in Prague, but did not finish the course. He began his career as an assistant director on Ladislav Helge's Velká samota. Later he collaborated with his friend Forman on all of Forman's Czech films, including Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), both of which Passer co-wrote and which were nominated for Academy Awards. He introduced Forman to cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček whom he knew from Velká samota. He then directed his first feature, Intimate Lighting, which was released in 1965 and is considered by some to be Passer's masterpiece. In 1969, after the Warsaw Pact invasion, Passer and Forman left Czechoslovakia together. Both proceeded to the United States, with Forman becoming an Academy Award-winning filmmaker.