Michael Laughlin has died from Covid complications, his friend has announced.
Laughlin passed away on October 20, pal Brooke Nasser told Variety.
The producer, who was born in Illinois, had been recruited by Stanford University to play basketball and graduated in 1960 from Principia College in Elsah.
He began producing films in the late 60s and worked on movies like The Whispers with Bryan Forbes in 1967, and Joanna in 1968 with director Michael Sarne.
He moved to London during this time where he met and married his first wife, Leslie Caron, who was a ballerina and actress.
A decade later, he produced a series of independent feature films, including the famous 1971 movie Two-Lane Blacktop by director Monte Hellman.
(Image: Michael Laughlin/Instagram)
The film was put in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 2012.
It was also scored as 93 percent “fresh” from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the 1980s he wrote and directed three motion pictures, including 1981 horror flick Strange Behaviours, 1983’s Strange Invaders, and 1985’s drama Mesmerized featuring Jodie Foster and John Lithgow.
Laughlin co-wrote the 2001 film Town & Country, featuring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, late Garry Shandling, and Goldie Hawn.
(Image: Michael Laughlin/Instagram)
Aside from showbiz, he owned a farm and was known as a writer.
He released the book Radical Golf in 1996 and a forthcoming posthumous memoir – which is set to be published after his death.
He married French actress Leslie Caron until the pair separated in 1975, with the pair living in London, Los Angeles and Manhattan, writes Variety.
He lived with writer Susanna Moore from 1976 to 1991.
After separating from Moore, Laughlin relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Laughlin is survived by stepchildren Christopher Hall, Jennifer Caron Hall and Lulu Sylbert.
The Laughlin family also owns a farm in Illinois that continues to produce soybeans
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
