Kenneth Hyman dead: Hollywood legend dies as fans pay heartbreaking tribute
The legend had a long career in movies.
Legendary Hollywood producer Kenneth Hyman died in Oxfordshire of natural causes on January 29, although the news was just made public. His death was confirmed on The Dirty Dozen Fanpage on X. Kenneth was the producer on the World War II classic, and alongside images of him and stills from the film, they penned: "Some sad news folks. Ken Hyman, the producer of The Dirty Dozen, has left us at the age of 97. I shall have more to say on this later, but for now, let's pour one out and remember the man who played a huge role in getting our favourite war movie made."
Alongside The Dirty Dozen, he was responsible for producing many huge Hollywood films, including 1962's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and Sidney Lumet’s The Hill in 1965, which starred Sean Connery.
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Born in New York City, Kenneth began his movie career after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps. His first producing credits came in 1959 on the remake of The Hound of the Baskervilles and on The Stranglers of Bombay.
Other films made under his watch included Camelot (1967), Wait Until Dark (1967), The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), Paul Newman’s Rachel, Rachel (1968), the Mick Jagger-led Performance (1970) and Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969).
However, one of the most notable moments of his career came when he gave black director Gordon Parks his first opportunity to helm a feature film.
Having found acclaim as a news photographer for publications such as Life and Vogu,e Gordon wanted to direct a film based on his 1963 semi-autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree. At that time, no black person had ever helmed a film for a major American studio.
Speaking to Roger Ebert in 2012, Gordon recalled: "We had a meeting that lasted 15 minutes, and he gave me the job of directing The Learning Tree. All of those years of prejudice and bigotry were broken down in 15 minutes.”
Not only did Gordon get to direct his dream project - he emerged from that meeting with a four-picture deal. He would go on to direct films such as Shaft (1971), The Super Cops (1974) and Leadbelly (1976).
U.S. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey wrote to Hyman and his father in 1968, telling them signing Parks won them “a place in the American story among pioneers who dared in an earlier time to bring a new land into nationhood and who, by guts and gumption, have in succeeding generations kept the United States a country of unfading hope and opportunity for all.”
Kenneth is survived by his wife, Caroline; his children, Kate, Michael, Andrew and Dominic; and his grandchildren, Eliot, Arlo and Emily. He was predeceased by another son, Greg.
