George Hickenlooper
George Loening Hickenlooper III was an American narrative and documentary filmmaker.
Early life
Hickenlooper was born in St. Louis, the son of Barbara Jo Wenger, a social worker and stage actress, and George Loening Hickenlooper Jr., a teacher and playwright. He was also the grand nephew of British-born conductor Leopold Stokowski through marriage to his great-aunt, pianist Olga Samaroff.He attended high school at St. Louis University High, where he was part of a group of teenage filmmakers he informally called the "Splicers," whose members included James Gunn .
After graduating from Yale University with a B.A. in History and Film Studies in 1986, Hickenlooper interned for the producer Roger Corman, and launched his directing career with Art, Acting, and the Suicide Chair: Dennis Hopper in 1988.
Career
His first feature-length documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, explored the making of Apocalypse Now. It won several awards, including the National Board of Review award for "Best Documentary", an American Cinema Editors award for "Best Edited Documentary", two Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awards for "Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Directing" and "Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming – Picture Editing", and the International Documentary Association award. Hickenlooper himself won an Emmy for direction.A short film written by Billy Bob Thornton, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, "attracted considerable critical acclaim" for Hickenlooper and was " hit on the festival circuit." Thornton parlayed the success into a full-length picture -- Sling Blade, which won an Oscar for its screenplay for Thornton, who also directed the film.
His final film, Casino Jack, was released two months after his death.
In addition to his films, Hickenlooper authored a book in 1991, Reel Conversations.