Robert Downey Sr. (died July 7th, aged 85)
Filmmaker and actor Robert Downey Sr. died at his home in Manhattan on July 7th after battling Parkinson’s disease for over five years. He was 85.
“Last night, dad passed peacefully in his sleep after years of enduring the ravages of Parkinson’s,” Downey Sr.’s son, Robert Downey Jr., wrote in an Instagram tribute. “He was a true maverick filmmaker and remained remarkably optimistic throughout. According to my step mom’s calculations, they were happily married for just over 2000 years. Rosemary Rogers-Downey, you are a saint, and our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Downey Sr. served in the army, played minor-league baseball, was a Golden Gloves champion, and off-off-Broadway playwright, all before he was 22 years old. As a director, his best-known work was the 1969 underground film Putney Swope, a satire on the New York Madison Avenue advertising world. His notable acting credits, on the other hand, include the 1985 action crime film To Live and Die in L.A., the 1997 drama movie Boogie Nights, and the 2000 fantasy comedy flick The Family Man.
