Peter Bogdanovich, director of 'Paper Moon' and 'The Last Picture Show,' dies at 82

Peter Bogdanovich, the Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter of "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon," has died. He was 82.

He died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes, Creative Artists Agency confirmed to USA TODAY.

With a career in Hollywood spanning more than 50 years, Bogdanovich is best known for directing a beloved run of comedies and dramas in the late '60s and '70s, including 1972 screwball hit "What's Up, Doc?" starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal and Madeline Kahn.

He reunited with O'Neal the following year on Depression-era road movie "Paper Moon," featuring the actor's daughter, Tatum O'Neal, who at age 10 won the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance. To date, she's still the youngest person in history to win a competitive Academy Award.

"Peter was my heaven & earth. A father figure. A friend," the actress wrote on Instagram as news broke of his death. "From 'Paper Moon' to 'Nickelodeon' he always made me feel safe. I love you, Peter."

Peter Bogdanovich's most essential films: From 'The Last Picture Show' to 'The Cat's Meow'

Bogdanovich was nominated for best director and adapted screenplay Oscars for 1971's "The Last Picture Show," a coming-of-age drama set in small-town 1950s Texas. The black-and-white film starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Ellen Burstyn and picked up eight Oscar nods including best picture, winning two for best supporting actor (Ben Johnson) and supporting actress (Cloris Leachman). In 1998, the movie was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for its historic and cultural significance.

In addition to directing, Bogdanovich had a prolific career as an author, film historian, journalist and actor. Fans of HBO's "The Sopranos" will remember his recurring role in the early 2000s as the concerned Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, therapist to Tony Soprano's psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). More recently, he made a meta cameo in the 2019 horror film "It: Chapter Two," playing a film director.

Bogdanovich "can sit down for three hours and talk about Orson Welles and (Alfred) Hitchcock," Andy Muschietti, the sequel's director, told USA TODAY at the time.

After Bogdanovich's death, Cybill Shepherd, who had her first film role in "The Last Picture Show," described him as her first acting teacher, "a blessing of enormous proportion.”

“There are simply no words to express my feelings over this deepest of losses," she told Deadline in a statement. "May Peter live long in all our memories.”

"Peter always made me laugh!" Streisand tweeted, sharing photos of herself with the director on the "What's Up, Doc?" set. "He’ll keep making them laugh up there too."

Cher, who starred in his "Mask," hailed him for making memorable films and discovering "amazingly Talented artists."

"He was a dear friend and a champion of cinema," "Nightmare Alley" director Guillermo del Toro wrote in tribute on Twitter. "He birthed masterpieces as a director and was a most genial human. He single-handedly interviewed and enshrined the lives and work of more classic filmmakers than almost anyone else in his generation."

"Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of my oldest friends, legendary director and film historian, Peter Bogdanovich," wrote actor Cary Elwes, who co-starred in the filmmaker's 2001 romance "The Cat's Meow" with Kirsten Dunst. "Besides being extraordinarily talented, he was a gentle soul with an enormous heart. I am forever grateful to have worked with him."

Born in Kingston, New York in 1939, Bogdanovich got his start as a film critic and programmer, working at New York's Museum of Modern Art in the early 1960s. Inspired by the likes of Welles, Howard Hawks and John Ford, he transitioned to directing in 1968, winning mostly positive reviews for his shocking lone shooter thriller "Targets." Roger Ebert was lukewarm in his review (" 'Targets' isn't a very good film, but it's an interesting one"), although the iconic movie critic was much more complimentary of Bogdanovich's later works, 1985's "Mask" and 1990's "Texasville."

Bogdanovich's personal life was filled with as much intrigue as his movies. He had a well-publicized affair with Shepherd, then a 21-year-old model, during the making of "Last Picture Show," which led to his divorce from his first wife, collaborator Polly Platt. During production of 1981's "They All Laughed," he struck up a relationship with Playmate-turned-actress Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by her estranged husband shortly after filming completed.

He married Stratten's younger sister, Louise, in 1988, but the couple divorced in 2001. Bogdanovich is survived by his two daughters, Sashy and Antonia, from his marriage to Platt.

Contributing: Brian Truitt and Kim Willis, USA TODAY, and The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peter Bogdanovich dies: 'Paper Moon,' 'Last Picture Show' director, 82