Jonathan Demme Movies and Career Information

Robert Jonathan Demme (born February 22, 1944) is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director. Demme was born in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York in 1944. He is a graduate of the University of Florida. He also was the uncle of Ted Demme, who died in 2002. He is currently a member of the steering committee of the Friends of the Apollo Theater in Oberlin, Ohio, along with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. Demme has three children by two marriages: Ramona, Brooklyn, Josephine. During the 1980s, Demme had a brief romantic relationship with rock singer Belinda Carlisle, who appeared in his movie Swing Shift. Demme broke into feature film working for exploitation film producer Roger Corman from 1971 to 1976, co-writing and producing Angels Hard as They Come and The Hot Box. He then moved on to directing, with three films (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama, Fighting Mad) for Corman's studio New World Pictures. After Fighting Mad, Demme directed the comedy film Handle with Care for Paramount Pictures in 1977. The film was well-reviewed by critics, but received little promotion, and performed