‘Silence of the Lambs’ Director, Jonathan Demme dies at 73

 Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme has died of esophageal cancer and complications from heart disease, according to published reports. He was 73 years old.

Demme is best known for directing “The Silence of the Lambs,” the 1991 horror-thriller that was a box office smash and a critical triumph. The story of an FBI analyst (Jodie Foster) who uses a charismatic serial killer (Anthony Hopkins) to track a murderer became only the third film in history to win Academy Awards in all the top five categories ( picture, actor, actress, director, and adapted screenplay), joining the ranks of “It Happened One Night” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

Though he had his greatest success terrifying audiences, most of Demme’s work was looser and quirkier. He showed a great humanism and empathy for outsiders in the likes of “Melvin and Howard,” the story of a service station owner who claimed to have been a beneficiary of Howard Hughes, and “Something Wild,” a screwball comedy about a banker whose life is turned upside down. He also scored with “Married to the Mob” and oversaw “Stop Making Sense,” a documentary about the Talking Heads that is considered to be one of the great concert films.