Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme passes away

Silence (शांति) of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme passes away 

Jonathan Demme, Oscar-winning director of "The Silence of the Lambs" who also led Tom Hanks to his first Oscar in "Philadelphia," died Wednesday in New York, his publicist said. He was 73. Demme remains best known for the 1991 horror-thriller, starring Anthony Hopkins as serial killer Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling.   The movie won five Academy Awards, including best picture, best actor for Hopkins and best actress for Foster.  Demme went on to direct "Philadelphia" in 1993, a ground-breaking movie that won Hanks his first Academy Award for portraying (चित्रण)a lawyer fired by his firm for contracting HIV and fighting for justice. 

"I can confirm that Jonathan passed away early this morning in his Manhattan apartment, surrounded by his wife, Joanne Howard, and three children," his publicist said in a brief statement. 

Demme died from complications(जटिलताओं) from oesophagus cancer and is survived (बच जाना) by his three children, Jos, 21, Brooklyn, 26, Ramona, 29 and her husband James Molloy. 

His death sparked an immediate outpouring of grief from fans, friends and former colleagues for a director who was widely respected in Hollywood and beyond, feted also for his work on behalf of refugees. 

In all, Demme directed 20 movies and 12 documentaries, among a raft of other credits. Neither was he afraid to shy away from America's tortured past. 

In 1998 he directed Oprah Winfrey in the movie "Beloved" based on the Toni Morrison novel about a slave visited by the spirit of her dead daughter.