Richard Glatzer, Director Of ‘Still Alice,’ Dies At 63: Battled ALS While Creating Julianne Moore Film


Despite battling ALS, Richard Glatzer co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning film Still Alice. Now at only 63, Glatzer lost his fight with the incurable disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, when he died on Tuesday in Los Angeles, revealed the Hollywood Reporter.

Julianne Moore took home the Oscar for best actress for portraying the key character in the film, a woman struggling to live her life despite early onset Alzheimer’s. But even as she planned her red carpet outfit for the Academy Awards, Glatzer had to be admitted to a hospital with respiratory issues.

Glatzer’s husband, Wash Westmoreland, worked with him on Still Alice. He revealed that they watched Moore win her Academy Award from a hospital room.

“Not so glamorous, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. And Richard will be alive to see it,” posted Wash on his Facebook page.

Glatzer was diagnosed before he and his husband adapted the book Still Alice into a film. He acknowledged that his health crisis caused him to change every aspect of how he lived his life. As he deteriorated, he had to rely on tapping a toe on an iPad to communicate.

And both Glatzer and Wash saw the irony that they were crafting a film about an incurable condition that turned a spouse into a caregiver. The director revealed to NPR that he even considered not taking on the movie because it so closely paralleled his own struggles.

“My medical condition made reading the book quite difficult for me,” admitted Glatzer. “It just cut too close to the bone. But once I’d finished it, I felt determined to make Still Alice into a movie. It really resonated with me.”

And so they began their path to creating a movie that would capture what it feels like to experience a disease that steals the sufferer’s health both emotionally and physically.

At the time, Wash dreamed of doing more films together, not knowing that in less than a month, his partner would die.

“You gotta make hay while the sun shines,” said Westmoreland hopefully. “So it’s the best time to set up future projects, hopefully for the next two or three years.”

But although those future projects never will happen for the two, Glatzer had the joy of seeing Still Alice become the runaway favorite for the Oscars, as the Inquisitr reported. Moore was chosen as the favorite for actress, and those predictions came true, with Glatzer cheering from his hospital room.

[Photo By David McNew/Getty Images]

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