Henry Jaglom

Background

Jaglom was born to a Jewish family in London, England, on January 26, 1938, the son of Marie (née Stadthagen) and Simon M. Jaglom, who worked in the import-export business. His father was from a wealthy family from modern-day Ukraine and his mother was from Germany. Through his mother, he is a descendant of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Shortly after Henry's birth, the family moved to the United States and settled in Manhattan, New York City. He was educated at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and then the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English and graduated in 1963.

Career

Jaglom trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York, where he acted, wrote and directed off-Broadway theater and cabaret before settling in Hollywood in the late 1960s. Under contract to Columbia Pictures, Jaglom featured in such TV series as Gidget and The Flying Nun and acted in a number of films which included Richard Rush's Psych-Out (1968), Boris Sagal's The Thousand Plane Raid (1969), Jack Nicholson's Drive, He Said (1971), Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie (1971), Maurice Dugowson's Lily, aime-moi (1975) and Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind (1970–1976; 2018).

Filmmaking

Jaglom's transition from acting in films to creating them was largely influenced by his experience watching Federico Fellini's film 8½ (1963), he told Robert K. Elder in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life.

The film changed my identity. I realized that what I wanted to do was make films. Not only that, but I realized what I wanted to make films about: my own life, to some extent.

Jaglom began his film-making career working with Jack Nicholson on the editing of Hopper's Easy Rider (1969), and made his writing/directing debut with A Safe Place (1971), starring Tuesday Weld, Nicholson, and Welles. His next film, Tracks (1976), starred Hopper and was one of the earliest movies to explore the psychological cost on America of the Vietnam War. His third film, the first to be a commercial success, was Sitting Ducks (1980), a comic romp that co-starred Zack Norman with Jaglom's brother Michael Emil. Film critic David Thomson said of Jaglom's next film, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983), starring Karen Black, that it "is an actors' film in that it grows out of their personalities—it is as loose and unexpected as life, but is shaped and witty as a great short story. In truth, a new kind of film."

Jaglom co-starred in four of his most personal films — Always (1985), Someone to Love (1987) starring Orson Welles in his final film performance, New Year's Day (1989), which introduced David Duchovny, and Venice/Venice (1992) opposite French star Nelly Alard.

In May 1988, Jaglom directed Eating (released 1990) about a group of women with eating disorders and how they cope with it and one another. Babyfever (1995) was about the issue of women with ticking biological clocks. Last Summer in the Hamptons (1996) was a Chekhovian look at the life of a theatrical family and starred Viveca Lindfors in her last screen role. Déjà Vu (1997) was about the yearning of people trying to find their perfect soul mate and was the only film in which Vanessa Redgrave and her mother, Rachel Kempson, appeared together. Festival in Cannes (2002) explored the lives and relationships of those involved in the world of film making and was shot entirely at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Going Shopping (2005) explored that subject as the third part of Jaglom's "Women's Trilogy", the others being Eating and Babyfever.

Hollywood Dreams (2007) dealt with a young woman's obsession with fame in the film industry and introduced Tanna Frederick, who then starred in Jaglom's Irene in Time (2009), a look at the complex relationships between fathers and daughters, and Queen of the Lot, the sequel-of-sorts to Hollywood Dreams that co-starred Noah Wyle as well as Christopher Rydell, Peter Bogdanovich, Jack Heller, Mary Crosby, Kathryn Crosby, and Dennis Christopher.

Jaglom's screen adaptation of Just 45 Minutes from Broadway, starring Frederick and Judd Nelson, was released in 2012. He edited The M Word, which stars Frederick, Frances Fisher, Michael Imperioli, Gregory Harrison, and Corey Feldman for a Fall 2013 theatrical release.

Other work

In 1983, Jaglom began taping lunch conversations with Orson Welles at Los Angeles's Ma Maison. Edited transcripts of these sessions, which continued until shortly before Welles died in 1985, appear in My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, edited by Peter Biskind (2013).

Jaglom wrote four plays that have been performed on Los Angeles stages: The Waiting Room (1974), A Safe Place (2003), Always—But Not Forever (2007) and Just 45 Minutes from Broadway (2009/2010).

Jaglom is the subject of Henry-Alex Rubin and Jeremy Workman's documentary Who Is Henry Jaglom (1995). First presented at numerous film festivals, the documentary premiered on PBS's documentary series POV.

Personal life and death

Jaglom was married three times. The first two marriages, to Patrice Townsend and Victoria Foyt, ended in divorce; his third marriage, to Tanna Frederick, was annulled. He had two children from his second marriage.

Jaglom died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on September 22, 2025, at the age of 87.

Filmography as a director

• 1971 A Safe Place
• 1976 Tracks
• 1980 Sitting Ducks
• 1983 Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?
• 1985 Always
• 1987 Someone to Love
• 1989 New Year's Day
• 1990 Eating
• 1992 Venice/Venice
• 1994 Babyfever
• 1995 Last Summer in the Hamptons
• 1997 Déjà Vu
• 2001 Festival in Cannes
• 2005 Going Shopping
• 2007 Hollywood Dreams
• 2009 Irene in Time
• 2010 Queen of the Lot
• 2012 Just 45 Minutes from Broadway
• 2014 The M Word
• 2015 Ovation
• 2017 Train to Zakopané

Filmography as an actor

• 1968 Psych-Out as Warren
• 1969 The Thousand Plane Raid as Worchek
• 1971 Drive, He Said as Conrad
• 1971 The Last Movie as The Minister's Son
• 1975 Lily, aime-moi as Guest At Flo's Party
• 1980 Sitting Ducks as Hit Man
• 1985 Always as David
• 1987 Someone to Love as Danny Sapir
• 1989 New Year's Day as Drew
• 1992 Venice/Venice as Dean
• 1996 Last Summer in the Hamptons as Max Berger

Playwright

• 1974 The Waiting Room
• 2003 A Safe Place
• 2007 Always—But Not Forever
• 2009-2010 Just 45 Minutes from Broadway
• 2012-2013 The Rainmaker
• 2014-2015 Train to Zakopané

References

References

1. "Henry Jaglom".
2. Williams, Alex. (September 24, 2025). "Henry Jaglom, Indie Director Who Mined the Personal, Dies at 87". [[The New York Times]].
3. (January 26, 1938). "Jaglom Database Bio". Henryjaglom.com.
4. Jaglom, Henry. (August 27, 2012). "Henry Jaglom's '45 Minutes from Broadway'". JewishJournal.com.
5. Kussatz. (October 26, 2007). "FILMMAKER - A Mendelssohn in Hollywood".
6. (2012). "Henry Jaglom - About This Person - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". [[The New York Times]].
7. "Henry Jaglom".
8. Elder, Robert K.. (January 1, 2011). "The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark". [[Chicago Review Press]].
9. (February 5, 1984). "Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. "Always".
11. Wood, Jennifer M.. (February 3, 2007). "Henry Jaglom's Moment of Truth".
12. REGINA WEINREICHPublished: January 14, 1996. (January 14, 1996). "A Film Farewell to the Hamptons - New York Times". [[The New York Times]].
13. (October 2009). "Henry Jaglom's "Just 45 Minutes from Broadway" Play Opens at Edgemar". Lastheplace.com.
14. Beck / Smith. (December 25, 2011). "Tanna Frederick: 'M Word' FeatureDramedy Hits New Menopause Territory". HollywoodNews.com.
15. Biskind, Peter. (June 16, 2013). "Three Courses of Orson Welles". New York Media LLC.
16. (May 9, 2013). "The day I used the 'N' word". [[Santa Monica Daily Press]].
17. (October 24, 2007). "Always...But Not Forever".
18. "Tanna Frederick Calls Henry Jaglom's New Play Unparalleled | LA STAGE TIMES". Lastageblog.com.
19. (January 23, 1997). "Who is Henry Jaglom?". [[POV (TV series).
20. (November 20, 2025). "Henry Jaglom, maverick director best known for the Dennis Hopper Vietnam-vet film Tracks". The Telegraph.
21. (25 September 2025). "Henry Jaglom Dies: Iconoclastic Director, Writer & Actor Was 87". Deadline.
22. (24 September 2025). "Henry Jaglom, Orson Welles’s Longtime Lunch Date, Dead at 87". Vulture.
23. (May 2, 2018). "Review: Henry Jaglom's 'Train to Zakopané' betrays its stage origins". Los Angeles Times.