Source: Stephen Lovekin / Getty
Sad news to report as multiple family friends and sources are confirming that Boyz N The Hood director John Singleton will be taken off life support today. He was 51.
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement to Deadline. “This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors.”
Singleton had struggled with hypertension, according to the spokesperson.
“We are grateful to his fans, friends and colleagues for the outpour of love and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” the spokesperson said. “We want to thank all the doctors at Cedars Sinai for the impeccable care he received.”
Born in 1951, Singleton became the first black director and the youngest director ever nominated for Best Director for his work on his landmark 1991 film. A Los Angeles native, Singleton’s early films such as Boyz N The Hood and Poetic Justice focused on coming of age in the the early ’90s California. In 1992, he directed another landmark in entertainment and film, Michael Jackson‘s “Remember The Time” video.
Singleton returned from Costa Rica earlier this month and complained of problems with his legs. He checked himself into the hospital and suffered a stroke on April 17. Family originally characterized the stroke as mild but Singleton’s mother Sheila Ward, is asking for a judge to appoint her temporary conservator because he’s “unable to properly provide for his personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter.” It was revealed Singleton had been in a coma on April 25.
Singleton’s filmography includes Rosewood, Higher Learning, Shaft, Baby Boy, and 2 Fast 2 Furious. He was also instrumental in a number of projects such as FX’s Snowfall. He was an advocate of black directors throughout Hollywood and dared Hollywood to green light more films and black stories told by black directors.
He is survived by his mother and five children.
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John Singleton, Legendary Filmmaker Dead At 51 was originally published on theboxhouston.com
