Jake Eberts dies at 71

Jake Ebert, the Canadian producer and founder of The Independent Films UK Reiet simple, revived the British film industry in 1980 with a series of films Oscar winners like "Gandhi" and "Chariots of Fire" died Thursday in Montreal. I 'was 71.

I 'was diagnosed in late 2010 with uveal melanoma, a rare cancer of the eye, who recently released his liver, said his wife, Fiona.

Over four decades in the world of film, Ebert financed or produced more than 50 films, including four who won the Oscar for Best Picture: "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "Gandhi" (1982), "A Walking Miss Daisy" (1989) and "Dances with Wolves" (1990).

He also produced "The Killing Fields" (1984), "The City of Joy" (1992), "The Legend of Bagger Vance" (2000) and the environmental documentary "Oceans" (2009).

Ebert was known for its focus on finance experts and creating films by supporting projects that appealed to him on an emotional level and deliver compelling stories free free sex, car chases and violence.

"It was really the master of Hollywood," said Jim Berk, Participant Media president, who has worked with Ebert on "Oceans" and other projects.

"Jake purpose in life was to try to create content that not only tell stories, but brings awareness and inspired people to do things that are beyond the norm. Way would be to have that touch this. especially to find stories. "

Ebert was a struggle, 33, an investment banker in 1974, when he was approached to arrange financing for a film animation harassed by a group of rabbits. "Watership Down" (1978), based on the novel by Richard Adams, became a box office and critical success and Ebert stuck to the film world.

Goldcrest Films was formed in 1976 with the support of the British publishing giant Pearson. Goldcrest first big hit was "Chariots of Fire", the drama of two runners in the Olympic Games of 1924, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four.

Goldcrest products in quick succession "Gandhi," the epic of K. charismatic of India Mohandas Gandhi, political and spiritual figure who led a campaign of nonviolent resistance Historical against British colonial rule, and "The Killing Fields," a compelling story about Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime told from the terms of two journalists.

"The film had touched his heart," said her husband Ebert Fiona Friday. "He 's gone by instinct many of them," Gandhi "," director Richard Attenborough had tried to do for 20 years to finally find his angel Ebert. The film won eight Academy Awards and launched the career of actor Ben Kingsley, who played Gandhi.

When Goldcrest came on the scene, the two British EMI and Rank, were in decline. "Jake has been in the business of making great films popular," said Terry Illott, an English writer who covered the media industry for the Financial Times and co-authored a book in 1990 on high with Regulus and Ebert Fall called "My indecision is final."

"Goldcrest was ambitious, confident of this and that failure entrepreneur who launched the business and creative range and EMI relief," said Illott. "People in the industry in the UK has begun to look at Goldcrest model, as they have done since."

Goldcrest Ebert left in 1984 to work at the Embassy of photos, but was drawn back a few years later.

The company was on the brink of collapse, having sunk millions to some problems, tormented films like "Revolution," a sweeping 1985 drama about the American Revolution starring Al Pacino. Ebert could not avoid disaster and the company was sold in 1987.

After leaving Goldcrest, Ebert founded Allied Filmmakers, an independent film development and production company based in London and Paris.

In late 1980, he was approached by producers Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck, designing a grumpy old maid in Atlanta and her black chauffeur had been rejected by every major U.S. studios. But Ebert liked the story and put in $ 3.25 million, which attracted an additional 4.5 million Warner Bros. "Driving Miss Daisy" was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won four.

"No Jake Ebert," said Richard Zanuck the New York Times in 1990, "'Miss Daisy' should never be done."

The son of a director of Alcan Aluminum, Ebert was born in Montreal July 7, 1941.

He trained as a chemical engineer at McGill University, but discovered it was not very good at it. In 1966 he received an MBA from Harvard University and worked on Wall Street for three years before joining an investment house in London in 1971.