Richard Glatzer Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the audience award and the grand jury prize for "Quinceañera" at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival
• Graduated from the University of Michigan in 1973 and earned his Ph․D․ in English from the University of Virginia
• Met Wash Westmoreland, who would become his lifelong partner and collaborator on four films, at a party in 1995
• Was hospitalized after a four-year battle with ALS during the 2015 Academy Awards, where Julianne Moore won the award for best leading actress for "Still Alice" and honored him in her acceptance speech
• Got his start in daytime reality television on the series "Divorce Court," an experience he later turned into his first film, "Grief," in 1993
• Quote: "[on filming "Still Alice," for which he communicated using a text-to-speech app on his iPad] "It's ironic that in my deteriorated state I'd be able to make a film that was creatively everything I'd ever wished for․""
• Quote: "My medical condition made reading the book [on which Still Alice" is based] quite difficult for me․ It just cut too close to the bone․ But once I'd finished it, I felt determined to make [it] into a movie․ It really resonated with me․""
• Best known as the co-director of "Still Alice" and "Quinceañera" with his husband, Wash Westmoreland