The Director Who Was Never as Famous as His Movies

Despite money, critical hosannas, honorary degrees, Oscar nominations, and the Academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, Norman Jewison was never as famous as his movies. Whereas some name-brand Hollywood directors cultivated their public personas, Jewison, who died last week at 97, contented himself with creating some of the most captivating movies of the 20th century. If there is a single scene to remember from his filmography, it’s one from In the Heat of the Night, in which , likely playing Hollywood’s first Black detective, is slapped by a malevolent plantation owner—and slaps back. As the critic said in an appreciation of Poitier: “I have people in my family who talk about this slap like it was an earthquake that they were present for.”