Oscar-Nominated Director and Writer Paul Mazursky Dies

Screenwriter and director Paul Mazursky died of cardiac arrest on Monday, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 84.

Mazursky has been praised for his innovation, sympathy, and sharp satire. In the 1960's and 70's, his films presented the changing social attitude of America with humor and intelligence.

"Mazursky is a tough man to handle critically. He is alternately witty and brilliantly sarcastic, then suddenly, soddenly, sincere and self-centered, only to explode unexpectedly as a first-rate social satirist," analyzed Vincent Canby in a 1976 New York Times piece.

An actor and producer, Mazursky had five Oscar nominations to his name. His 1978 flick "An Unmarried Woman" was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay, best picture, and best actress (Jill Clayburgh).

His films focused on the social movements of the day. "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," for example, regarded swinging and open marriages, and "An Unmarried Woman" deals with a newly divorced woman re-entering the dating pool after 15 years happily commited. Mazursky's best movies embraced the humor, strangeness, and frailty of the human condition, often teetering expertly on the line between shocking, truthful, and tender.

Of his 17 films, Mazursky wrote and directed almost all, and even made appearances in most of them. He has more recently made appearances in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Sopranos," and as the voice of a musical rabbit in "Kung Fu Panda 2."

Born in Brooklyn, Irwin Mazursky changed his name to Paul in college, after he was cast in Stanley Kubrick's directoral debute film, "Fear and Desire."