Plot

Blake Edwards' life and career, told by family and colleagues, especially wife Julie Andrews. Chronicles his filmmaking phases, Pink Panther series, collaboration with Henry Mancini, and later artistic pursuits in painting and sculpture.

The life and career of screenwriter/director Blake Edwards is presented, his story told largely by contemporaries, colleagues and his family, the latter most notably his second wife of forty-three years, Julie Andrews, who has a unique perspective arguably knowing him the best both professionally and personally. Their marriage, which ended with his death in 2010, is not evidently obvious to outsiders who may view them solely by their individual filmographies, Edwards largely seen as the creator of American physical comedies, and Andrews largely seen as the prim and proper classically trained singing British nanny. Edwards' work on the screen and his one foray on stage are discussed largely in chronological order with the exception of works that are naturally grouped together, namely the series of Pink Panther movies, and Victor/Victoria (1982) in conjunction with its Broadway stage version fourteen years later, with movies highlighted that for one reason or another are considered milestones in his career. While he had some stalwart collaborators onscreen and behind the cameras, the special professional relationship he had with composer Henry Mancini is discussed in their careers often seen as being indelibly joined. His movie career is separated into three general phases, from the late 1950s to the late 1960s where he was seen as doing no wrong, the 1970s where he could do little right, and the turning point into the 1980s where a success with Elle (1979) allowed him to do the movies he really wanted to do, including many with Andrews and which included what are considered his two most autobiographical, S.O.B. (1981) on the professional side, and That's Life! (1986) on the personal side. This presentation is bookended by discussion of his work as a painter and sculptor, endeavors largely done for himself.—Huggo