Director Bob Clark (Christmas Story, Porky's, Black Christmas) dead in car accident

[Seantn]

From Bloody-Disgusting:

Film director Robert Clark and his son Ariel were killed in an early morning collision along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, authorities said.

Clark directed the classic holiday film "A Christmas Story" in 1983 and was also the producer of the "Porkys" films, along with about two dozen other features.

The crash, which occurred about 2:30 a.m., left the highway closed between Temescal Canyon Road and West Sunset Boulevard until 10:40 a.m., while police investigated at the scene, said Kevin Maiberger, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police said Clark, 67, and his son, who was 22, were found dead at the scene in the silver Infiniti.

The driver and passenger of the other vehicle, a GMC Yukon, were taken to the UCLA Medical Center with "serious" injuries, Maiberger said. Both of them are thought to be in their 20s. The male driver is expected to be charged with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Maiberger said.

Maiberger added that speed was another factor in the crash, but he said the investigation has not determined to what extent. "I'm not sure if that means one car, or both cars were speeding," he said.

[Sierra Disc]

Wow, that sucks. I hate Porky's but Christmas Story is definitely one of the greats.

[DodgingCars]

The weird thing is, I heard about PCH being closed this morning due to a fatal accident.

[EdTheRipper]

Wow, that's too bad.

[Numanoid]

Man, that sucks, but someone had to pay for Baby Geniuses.


Too soon?



(But seriously, that's a shitty fate)

[The Bus]

:rip:

[Geofferson]

Rip

[Jaymole]

Probably the most schizophrenic director ever.

RIP

[lotsofdvds]

Of course the criminal fucker who killed him survived.

[Keith6601]

Does this mean we get a 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story without having to wait until christmas this year?

[Mikey]

That's so sad to hear. What a horrible thing for his family! I will always cherish a Christmas Story and cringe at how scary Black Christmas is/was.

[TomOpus]

Probably the most schizophrenic director ever.

RIPNo kidding. Not only quality-wise but genre-wise.

I enjoyed many of his movies and this is pretty sad.

[Eplicon]

The driver also was also driving without a license on top of being under the influence. The passenger in his car should also be charged as an accomplice as far as I'm concerned for letting him drive in the first place and probably knowing he was driving illegally. She could have prevented the tragedy.

I never understood the popularity of A Christmas Story. Saw it only once, and never saw it again. Never could relate to it.

[DarthVong]

Creepy. I just finished watching the Black Christmas remake making of with him in it.

[Simpson Purist]

A sad loss, I love A Christmas Story.

Even worse is the way he died. :(

[matome]

Creepy. I just finished watching the Black Christmas remake making of with him in it.

Same here :(

[TheNightFlier]

I hate when the drunk drivers are the ones who escape with "minor" injuries.

Turk 182! has always been one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies. RIP.

[mike45]

I've never got the gross vehicular manslaughter for the responsible DUI driver. Driving while intoxicated is pretty premeditated.

Murder two, at the least.

[NatrlBornThrllr]

I've never got the gross vehicular manslaughter for the responsible DUI driver. Driving while intoxicated is pretty premeditated.

Murder two, at the least.

Intent.

[Rockmjd23]

I'll always remember him for his groundbreaking horror films. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Dead of Night, and Black Christmas, the original slasher film.

RIP

[OwlAtHome]

Very sad news.

[calhoun07]

I hate when the drunk drivers are the ones who escape with "minor" injuries.

I have read the reason that happens so often is because the drunk driver is more often than not just unaware of the pending accident and they are often completely relaxed. The sober driver tenses up and becomes stiff, so at the point of impact they are often wounded more, or more prone to get killed, where as the drunk just goes with the impact and gets minor injuries.

[Mosskeeto]

The fatalities occurred in a car while the survivors were in a SUV. Typical statistics in this type of accident.

[Giantrobo]

The weird thing is, I heard about PCH being closed this morning due to a fatal accident.


Yep same here.

[Matthew Chmiel]

This came to a little bit of a shock for me as I was just watching the special features on the Black Christmas remake DVD last night and Mr. Clark was very prominent in the featurettes.

RIP good sir. You made two of the very greatest genre films of all time (Black Christmas and Porky's).

[BigDaddy]

LOS ANGELES — Bob Clark, whose film "A Christmas Story" became a seasonal fixture for its bittersweet cataloguing of holiday dreams and disappointments, was killed with his son in a car crash. He was 67.

Clark and Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were traveling on the Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades when they were killed Wednesday, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.


(enlarge photo)
In this handout photo from Twentieth Century-Fox, film director Robert Clark, is shown in this file photo for his movie 'Rhinestone'. Clark, best known for the beloved holiday classic 'A Christmas Story,' and his son were killed Wednesday April 4, 2007, in a car wreck, the filmmaker's assistant and police said. Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant. (AP Photo/Twentieth Century-Fox,HO-File)
Their car was struck head-on by an SUV that a drunken driver steered into the wrong lane, police said.

"It's a tragic day for all of us who knew and loved Bob Clark," said Scott Schwartz, who played the flagpole-licking character Flick in "A Christmas Story" and kept in touch with Clark over the years. "Bob was a fun-lovin', jelly-roll kinda guy who will be sorely missed."

The driver of the other vehicle, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles was arrested and booked for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter. He was being held on $100,000 bail.

"The initial investigation has concluded that Nava was driving without a license northbound in the southbound lanes while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage," said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman.

An LAPD officer said early Thursday she didn't know if Nava had an attorney.

Clark had a prolific movie and TV directing career. He specialized in horror movies and thrillers early on, directing such 1970s movies as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, he directed, co-produced and co-wrote "A Christmas Story," an adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film starred Peter Billingsly as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" as one of the Christmas films audiences watch year after year.

In 1994, Clark directed a forgettable sequel, "It Runs in the Family," featuring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin in a continuation of Shepard's memoirs.

In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."

Among Clark's other movies were Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton's "Rhinestone," Timothy Hutton's "Turk 182!", and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd's "Loose Cannons."



A little more info about the driver. Sad.

[Kicker_of_Elves]

Wow that sucks.

[inri222]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00026PA70.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00000IO3R.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[KillerCannibal]

Total b.s. way to die. Some drunk Mexican without a license kills a talented director. Par for the course in CA these days. R.I.P.

[Randy Miller III]

I'd call you a racist, but that only applies when a suspect is black.




;)

[Hokeyboy]

Total b.s. way to die. Some drunk Mexican without a license kills a talented director. Par for the course in CA these days. R.I.P.
How do you know he isn't, say, Ecuadorian or El Salvadorian?

"Some drunk Mexican"... that line gave me shivers. :(

That having been said, anyone driving drunk without a license who ends up killing someone should be hung upside and beaten with canes until they resemble a large mitochondria. :mad:

[Sex Fiend]

I'll always remember him for his groundbreaking horror films. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Dead of Night, and Black Christmas, the original slasher film.

RIP

Agreed. Even if Bob Clark could never be considered one of the most respected mainstream filmmakers (and aside from Christmas Story, how could he be?), you have to give him props as one of the best genre filmmakers of the 1970's.

[tdirgins]

Sons of bitches! Bumpuses!

[Norm de Plume]

I was saddened to hear this today. He may be my favourite director, having directed three of the great '70s horror movies in "Black Christmas", "Deathdream", and "Murder by Decree". He also consulted on "Deranged", which was directed by his proteges Jeff Gillen and Allen Ormsby, but later disavowed his involvement.
I wrote to him in '93 expressing my appreciation of his work, and he was nice enough to write back and send me a script for his latest project at the time, "It Runs in the Family". Seemed like a nice guy. And doesn't it figure that, as usual, the drunk-driving cumstain stumbled away without injuries.

[Seantn]

It was stated on the news this morning that the guy who killed BoB Clark was an illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles. After the arraignment which could happen as early as today, he'll be handed over to immigration officials.

They showed the SUV, which was messed up in the front....THEN they showed Bob Clarks car, and it was crushed. I mean, him and his son stood absolutely no chance of surviving this thing. The car is just mangled up in the front. It's so freakin' sad.

[LASERMOVIES]

How do you know he isn't, say, Ecuadorian or El Salvadorian?

"Some drunk Mexican"... that line gave me shivers. :(

That having been said, anyone driving drunk without a license who ends up killing someone should be hung upside and beaten with canes until they resemble a large mitochondria. :mad:


Looks like he was a Mexican.


http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Director_Killed_282208C.shtml

Immigration hold placed on man arrested in LA filmmaker's death
By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Federal authorities have placed an immigration hold on a 24-year-old Mexican national arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and causing the crash that killed "A Christmas Story" director Bob Clark and his son, officials said Thursday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put the hold Wednesday on Hector Velazquez-Nava, an illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles, said agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

The action means Velazquez-Nava will be turned over to federal immigration officials and placed in deportation proceedings once his local case is completed. He was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter, and was being held on $100,000 bail in a county jail.

If he were to post bail, Velazquez-Nava would be taken into federal custody on the immigration hold, Kice said.

Police allege Velazquez-Nava steered his sport utility vehicle into the wrong lane of Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades early Wednesday, striking Clark's sedan head-on. The filmmaker and his son, Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, died at the scene.

Authorities said Velazquez-Nava was driving without a license. He and his passenger, Lidia Mora, 29, of Azusa, were treated for minor injuries.

Velazquez-Nava had no prior deportations but was convicted in March 2005 of soliciting a prostitute in South Los Angeles, court records show. He received 24 months probation and a $1,500 fine after pleading no contest. At the time, he also was accused of not having a valid license.

It was unclear whether Velazquez-Nava had retained an attorney. There was no phone listing under his name.

Clark had a prolific movie and TV directing career. He specialized in horror movies and thrillers early on, directing such 1970s movies as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, he directed, co-produced and co-wrote "A Christmas Story," an adaptation of Jean Shepherd's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film starred Peter Billingsly as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

While a modest theatrical success, the movie was a critical darling and eventually joined "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" as one of the Christmas films audiences watch year after year.

Published: Thursday, April 5, 2007 17:29 PDT

[TheMovieman]

Creepy. I just finished watching the Black Christmas remake making of with him in it.

Same here...

[Zodiac_Speaking]

Incrediblely sad, especially to anyone's family to be a victim of this, but every Halloween and Christmas, Bob Clark will be missed and remembered.

[AGuyNamedMike]

I've never got the gross vehicular manslaughter for the responsible DUI driver. Driving while intoxicated is pretty premeditated.

Murder two, at the least.

Intent.

Depends on the state, the current mood of the people, and the prosecutor. DUI killings have been prosecuted as murder in the second degree several times, sometimes successfully.

[visitor Q]

I'd call you a racist, but that only applies when a suspect is black.

... ok, "Illegal" .. that will set things right!!

... treading on f-r-a-g(eee)-l(ayyy) waters ..

Anyway, anyone taken out of their prime is a sad affair. RIP

[souvenir]

MSN News (http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=257532&GT1=7701) reports that the driver's BAL was 0.24, three times the legal limit and he's plead not guilty.