‘Still Alice’ Writer and Director Richard Glatzer Dead at 63

It’s been known for quite some time that Richard Glatzer, the co-writer and co-director of the acclaimed drama Still Alice has been suffering from ALS, but that doesn’t make today’s news of his passing any less poignant. Glatzer has passed away at the age of 63 following a three-week hospitalization.

Deadline reports that Glatzer passed away yesterday in Los Angeles due to complications from ALS, a disease he was initially diagnosed with in 2011. Glatzer co-wrote and co-directed the film with his husband, Wash Westmoreland, with whom he also directed the films The Last of Robin Hood and Quinceanera. The duo had recently sold a new movie pitch, the details of which are currently unknown.

Glatzer and Westmoreland worked as consultants on the long-running series America’s Next Top Model, but established themselves as collaborative filmmakers with their 2001 film, The Fluffer. It was Glatzer and Westmoreland’s most recent film, Still Alice, that earned the pair considerable attention, particularly thanks to Julianne Moore’s amazing performance as Alice, a linguistics professor coping with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Moore went on to win a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech at the Oscars, Moore revealed that when Glatzer was diagnosed with ALS, Westmoreland asked his spouse what he wanted to do before the disease overcame him. Glatzer’s only wish was to make movies, which he did.