*Wow. We knew it was coming, but now that it’s happened, we have to take a minute and catch our breath. John Singleton has transitioned. After a career of nearly three decades in Hollywood, John Singleton is dead at age 51.
Here’s more via TMZ:
A Singleton family rep says he passed “peacefully, surrounded by his family and friends.” The news comes more than a week after the famed director suffered a massive stroke.
As we first reported … John’s mom, Shelia Ward, filed legal docs asking the judge to appoint her temporary conservator because he was “unable to properly provide for his personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.” He had been in a coma in ICU at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A.
The “Boyz n the Hood” director suffered the stroke 12 days ago after returning from Costa Rica and experiencing problems with his legs. He checked himself into Cedars where he suffered a stroke on April 17 in his hospital room.
Here’s a look at John Singleton’s life via Wikipedia:
Early life
John Singleton was born in Los Angeles, the son of Sheila Ward-Johnson, a pharmaceutical company sales executive, and Danny Singleton, a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and financial planner.[1] He attended Blair High School, Pasadena City College and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated from USC in 1990, and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.[2]
Singleton had considered pursuing computer science, but enrolled in USC’s Filmic Writing program under Margaret Mehring.[3] The program was designed to take students directly into the Hollywood system as proficient writer/directors. He has cited the original Star Wars film as one of his strongest influences, and the work of Steven Spielberg as a source of inspiration.[4]
Career
Singleton’s 1991 film debut Boyz n the Hood, an inner city drama starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Angela Bassett, Ice Cube, and Laurence Fishburne, was both a critical and commercial success. For his efforts, Singleton received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.[2] At age 24 he was the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director, and the first African-American to be nominated for the award (Four others, Lee Daniels, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, have been nominated since). The film has since attained classic status and, in 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[5]
His directing ability led to the VFX-driven “Remember the Time” music video for Michael Jackson, which featured Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson.[6] His next films were Poetic Justice (1993) and Higher Learning (1995), which were similarly socially conscious and received mixed to positive reviews.[citation needed]
In 1997, his film Rosewood, a historical drama about racial violence, was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.[7] Both this and his 2001 film Baby Boy received very positive reviews and helped establish Singleton’s critical reputation. Additionally, his adaptation of Shaft (2000), starring Samuel L. Jackson in the title role, was successful critically and commercially.[citation needed]
PRAYERS UP! PEABO BRYSON SUFFERS HEART ATTACK … SINGER SAID TO BE IN STABLE CONDITION
Singleton has since turned to directing action films, such as 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Four Brothers (2005), which have received mixed reviews. In 2005, Singleton teamed with Craig Brewer and financed the independent film Hustle and Flow, once it was clear that most other major backers would not clear it for release.[citation needed]
In 2013, it was announced that Singleton was attached as director of a Tupac Shakur biography film. On April 3, 2015, Singleton reported that production was put on hold.[8] Four days later, it was announced that following creative differences with Morgan Creek Productions, Singleton had stepped down as director, and was replaced by Carl Franklin.[9] Singleton also stated he was planning on making a competing film about Tupac.[10]
After directing episodes of the critically acclaimed TV shows Empire and American Crime Story, he served as an executive producer of the crime drama series Rebel for BET and co-created Snowfall for FX
Personal life
He has five children. John has a daughter named Justice Maya Singleton (born on October 17, 1992) with former wife Tosha Lewis, as well as a son, Maasai Mohandas Singleton (born April 3, 1994).[citation needed]
On October 12, 1996, John married Ghanaian actress Akosua Gyamama Busia, who is the daughter of Ghana’s second Prime Minister Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia. They have a daughter named Hadar Singleton, born on April 3, 1997, who appeared in Tears of the Sun(2003) and other films. Singleton and Busia divorced in June 1997. Singleton also has a daughter, Cleopatra Singleton, who was born in 1998.[citation needed] Singleton also has a daughter, Isis (born in 2010) with Mitzi Andrews, an actress/model based in Toronto, Canada.[citation needed]
Accident
On August 23, 2007, Singleton was involved in an automobile accident in which he struck a jaywalking pedestrian, Constance Russell, 57, of Los Angeles.[11] Staying on the scene until police arrived, Singleton was not under the influence of alcohol or other substances, and was released after being questioned. Russell died later in the hospital. The case was turned over to the District Attorney but no charges were filed.[12][13]
Criticism of Hollywood
On March 19, 2014, Singleton criticized popular studios for “refusing to let African-Americans direct black-themed films”. Singleton told an audience of students at Loyola Marymount University “They ain’t letting the black people tell the stories.” He also added, “They want black people [to be] what they want them to be. And nobody is man enough to go and say that. They want black people to be who they want them to be, as opposed to what they are. The black films now—so-called black films now—they’re great. They’re great films. But they’re just product. They’re not moving the bar forward creatively. …When you try to make it homogenized, when you try to make it appeal to everybody, then you don’t have anything that’s special.”[14][15][16]
Sexual harassment allegation
In 2017, Singleton was accused of sexual harassment by a journalist who interviewed him
Read/learn MORE on John Singleton at Wikipedia.
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