This director's most successful work spotlighted the triumph of the underdog and demonstrated a keen skill at manipulating audience emotion. John G Avildsen is perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning direction of "Rocky" (1976) and the similar "The Karate Kid" (1984) and its sequels. Early in his career, though, he worked as a production manager, assistant director and cinematographer before graduating to the director's chair in the late 1960s. Avildsen's early output included the sly, often overlooked sex comedy, "Guess What We Learned in School Today?" (1970) and the souped-up portrait of generational hatreds "Joe" (1970)--which brought him and star Peter Boyle to widespread attention.
The son of a Chicago-area tool manufacturer, Avildsen began his career in advertising and served as a chaplain's assistant in the military. In 1963, he started his career in film as an assistant director and actor in the low budget "The Greenwich Village Story" and was director Carl Lerner's assistant on "Black Like Me" (1964). He graduated to assistant production manager on Arthur Penn's "Mickey One" (1965) and Otto Preminger hired Avildsen as second unit director on "Hurry Sundown" (1967). While he was serving in virtually every key position and learning the craft of filmmaking, Avildsen took time to direct several short films, including "Smiles" (1964) and "Light - Sound - Diffuse" (1967). At the same time, he directed TV commercials and industrials for such clients as Clairol and IBM. His feature film directorial debut was the sex-oriented "Turn on to Love" (1969). After the surprise success of "Joe", Avildsen followed with "Save the Tiger" (1973) for which star Jack Lemmon earned a Best Actor Oscar as a garment manufacturer who consorts with gangsters in order to save his business. It took another surprise hit, "Rocky" to propel Avildsen to the A-list. Working from star Sylvester Stallone's script, the director fashioned a likable throwback to 40s and 50s B-movies about a boxer faced with a one-in-a-million shot at success. "Rocky" became the little movie that could, earning a Best Picture Oscar and was followed by four sequels. Avildsen eventual returned to the franchise and directed "Rocky V" (1990), the last segment to date.
Despite his Academy Award, Avildsen followed with a string of unsuccessful features, perhaps reaching the nadir with the ludicrous "A Night in Heaven" (1983). The following year, however, he bounced back with "The Karate Kid", which some saw as a reworking of "Rocky" with teenager Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita. The film was a box-office success and spawned three sequels (Avildsen helmed the first two). Staking new territory, he directed Morgan Freeman as a Paterson, NJ, high school principal with controversial methods in the inspirational "Lean on Me" (1989) and Stephen Dorff in his star-making role as an orphan in South Africa (and boxer), who comes to blows with the Afrikaner regime in "The Power of One" (1992). A more recent effort, "8 Seconds" (1994), tried to turn the same magic for TV star Luke Perry (cast as rodeo legend Lane Frost) but it did not impress critics or audiences.