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Edward "Ted" Demme (October 26, 1963 – January 13, 2002) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 film director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 and producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
.

in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, Demme grew up in Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York and attended South Side Senior High School. He was the nephew of movie producer and director Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme

Robert Jonathan Demme is an Academy Award for Directing-winning United States film director, film producer and writer....
. His career had modest beginnings — starting as a production assistant at MTV
MTV

MTV is an United States cable television network based in Media of New York City. Launched on August 1, 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJ ....
, he later created the cable network's seminal hip-hop show Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps

Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour United States television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995. The program was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier....
 and directed other projects for them, including the infamous black-and-white rants starring then-unknown chain-smoking
Chain smoking

Chain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one....
 comedian Denis Leary
Denis Leary

Denis Colin Leary is a Golden Globe Award- and Emmy Award-nominated United States actor, comedian, writer and film director. He is known for his often angry comedic style, and his chain smoking....
.






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Edward "Ted" Demme (October 26, 1963 – January 13, 2002) was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 film director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 and producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
.

Biography


Early life and career

Born in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, Demme grew up in Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York and attended South Side Senior High School. He was the nephew of movie producer and director Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme

Robert Jonathan Demme is an Academy Award for Directing-winning United States film director, film producer and writer....
. His career had modest beginnings — starting as a production assistant at MTV
MTV

MTV is an United States cable television network based in Media of New York City. Launched on August 1, 1981, the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJ ....
, he later created the cable network's seminal hip-hop show Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps

Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour United States television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995. The program was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier....
 and directed other projects for them, including the infamous black-and-white rants starring then-unknown chain-smoking
Chain smoking

Chain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one....
 comedian Denis Leary
Denis Leary

Denis Colin Leary is a Golden Globe Award- and Emmy Award-nominated United States actor, comedian, writer and film director. He is known for his often angry comedic style, and his chain smoking....
. His best known films were The Ref
The Ref

The Ref is a 1994 black comedy film film director by Ted Demme....
, starring Leary and Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey is an American character actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television....
, and Blow
Blow (film)

Blow is a 2001 drama/biopic film about the United States cocaine smuggler George Jung, film director by Ted Demme. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay....
 which featured Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is an American actor known for his portrayals of offbeat, eccentric characters such as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and Edward Scissorhands....
 as George Jung
George Jung

George Jacob Jung , nicknamed "Boston George", was a major player in the Cocaine#Illicit_trade in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s; he was infamous for being the largest drug trafficker in the United States during that time....
 (a high-profile drug dealer during the 1970s).

Over the course of his career, he established a group of actors that he chose to work with on more than one occasion. The most frequently used of these was Denis Leary, who he directed as a lead or star in No Cure for Cancer
No Cure for Cancer

No Cure for Cancer is one of Denis Leary's standup routines from the early 1990s. It was made into a Showtime special, a book, and a compact disc, all with the same title....
, The Ref
The Ref

The Ref is a 1994 black comedy film film director by Ted Demme....
, Denis Leary: Lock 'n Load, and Monument Ave.
Monument Ave.

Monument Ave., originally titled Snitch and titled Noose in Australia, is a 1998 American film directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary....
. Leary also worked as producer on the film Blow. Other actors he frequently used included:

  • Noah Emmerich
    Noah Emmerich

    Noah Nicholas Emmerich is an United States film actor who first broke out in the cult hit Beautiful Girls . He was later seen in movies like The Truman Show, Cop Land, Frequency , Love & Sex, Windtalkers, Miracle , and Little Children ....
     in Beautiful Girls, Monument Ave., Life, and (a cut scene in) Blow,
  • Max Perlich
    Max Perlich

    Max Perlich is an American film and television actor.He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a teacher and his father, Martin Perlich, a writer and radio programming director and announcer, worked for a time with the Cleveland Orchestra....
     in Beautiful Girls and Blow, and
  • Adam LeFevre
    Adam LeFevre

    Adam LeFevre is an United States character actor, poet and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials.LeFevre was born in Albany, New York, the son of Helen , a hospital patient representative, and Ira Deyo LeFevre, a physician....
     in The Ref and Beautiful Girls.


Personal life

Demme was married to Amanda Scheer with whom he had two children. Scheer later opened several popular Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
 bars including Teddy's at the Roosevelt Hotel
Roosevelt Hotel (Hollywood)

The Roosevelt Hotel is a historic Spanish-style hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Named after Theodore Roosevelt and financed by a group including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Louis B....
 named in Demme's honor.

Death

On January 13, 2002, while playing a game of basketball, Demme collapsed and died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when the Blood flow to part of the heart is interrupted. This is most commonly due to occlusion of a coronary artery following the rupture of a Vulnerable plaque, which is an unstable collection of lipids and white blood cells in the wall of an artery....
 which may have been related to cocaine
Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine....
 later found in his system during an autopsy.

Filmography


Actor

  • Gun
    Gun (TV series)

    "Gun" was a television anthology series that lasted six episodes in 1997. Each episode involved the same semi-automatic handgun as an important part of the plot....
     (1 episode)
  • Blow (2001)


Director

  • Yo! MTV Raps (1988, Unknown episodes)
  • The Bet
    The Bet (1992 film)

    The Bet is a 1992 in film American film directed by Ted Demme, written by Gavin O'Connor, and starring Josh Mosby and John Benjamin Hickey....
     (1992)
  • No Cure for Cancer (1992)
  • Who's the Man?
    Who's the Man?

    Who's the Man? is a 1993 in film comedy film, Film director by Ted Demme. The film stars Yo! MTV Raps hosts Doctor Dr? and Ed Lover as its two main protagonists....
     (1993)
  • The Ref
    The Ref

    The Ref is a 1994 black comedy film film director by Ted Demme....
     (1994)
  • Beautiful Girls (1996)
  • Homicide: Life on the Street
    Homicide: Life on the Street

    Homicide: Life on the Street is an United States television police procedural series chronicling the work of a fictional Baltimore Baltimore Police Department homicide unit....
     (2 episodes, 1994-1996)
  • Gun (1 episode, 1997)
  • Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground
    Subway Stories

    Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground was a film made in 1997 and produced by Home Box Office for television. It began as a contest among New Yorkers who submitted stories of their experiences within the New York City Subway....
     (Segment: "Manhattan Miracle", 1997)
  • Denis Leary: Lock 'n Load (1997)
  • Monument Ave.
    Monument Ave.

    Monument Ave., originally titled Snitch and titled Noose in Australia, is a 1998 American film directed by Ted Demme and starring Denis Leary....
     (1998)
  • Life
    Life (film)

    Life is a 1999 in film Drama film-comedy film starring Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and Obba Babatund?. The film was directed by Ted Demme....
     (1999)
  • Action
    Action (TV series)

    Action is a short-lived comedy series about a Hollywood producer named Peter Dragon, who is trying to recover from his last box-office failure....
     (1 episode, 1999)
  • Blow (2001)
  • A Decade Under the Influence (2003)


Producer

  • Yo! MTV Raps (1988, Unknown episodes)
  • Hangin' w/MTV (1992, Executive producer)
  • Monument Ave. (1998)
  • Rounders
    Rounders (film)

    Rounders is a 1998 in film about the underground world of high-stakes poker. Directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, the movie follows two friends who need to quickly earn enough cash playing poker to pay off a huge debt....
     (1998)
  • Tumbleweeds
    Tumbleweeds (1999 film)

    Tumbleweeds is a 1999 in film Cinema of the United States drama film directed by Gavin O'Connor , who co-wrote the screenplay with his then-wife Angela Shelton, who was inspired by her memories of a childhood spent on the road with her serial-marrying mother....
     (1999, Executive producer)
  • A Lesson Before Dying
    A Lesson Before Dying

    A Lesson Before Dying is Ernest J. Gaines' eighth novel, published in 1993....
     (1999, Executive producer)
  • Action (1 episode, Executive producer, 1999)
  • Blow
    Blow (film)

    Blow is a 2001 drama/biopic film about the United States cocaine smuggler George Jung, film director by Ted Demme. David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes adapted Bruce Porter's 1993 book Blow: How a Small Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All for the screenplay....
     (2001)
  • A Decade Under the Influence (2003)


Awards and nominations


In popular culture

Rock musician Greg Dulli
Greg Dulli

Greg Dulli is an American Rock music singer and instrumentalist.Dulli was born and brought up in a working-class suburb of Hamilton, Ohio. Dulli's father's side of the family comes from Kalamata-Peloponnese, Greece and his mother comes from West County Cork, Republic of Ireland....
 wrote The Twilight Singers
The Twilight Singers

The Twilight Singers is an United States indie rock musical group. The group was initially formed as a side project by The Afghan Whigs leader Greg Dulli in 1997....
' 2003 album Blackberry Belle
Blackberry Belle

Blackberry Belle is the second full-length album released by The Twilight Singers. It was released by One Little Indian Records on October 14, 2003 and features guest appearances by Mathias Schneeberger, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Stanton Moore, Petra Haden and Mark Lanegan....
 in Demme's memory.

External links