ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 TAG: 9603120084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Moviemaker Ross Hunter, who went from a B-movie acting dropout to producer of glamour films, sentimental tear-jerkers and box office hits like the disaster saga ``Airport,'' has died.
Hunter died Sunday at Century City Hospital after an undisclosed long illness, said Lisa Gaines, spokeswoman for the hospital. His age has been reported in film publications as between 69 and 79.
Hunter, who dedicated himself to keeping ``all my movies beautiful,'' gave 1950s audiences the glamour of 1930s Hollywood.
His more than 60 films were either bright confections - starring Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds or Julie Andrews - or tear-jerker remakes of films such as ``Imitation of Life.''
Hunter produced ``Back Street,'' ``Pillow Talk,'' and musicals ``Flower Drum Song'' and ``Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and the derided 1973 remake of ``Lost Horizon,'' his last feature film.
But it was ``Airport,'' Hunter's all-star action-disaster saga in 1970, that earned him his only Oscar nomination.
Describing his movies in 1985, he said: ``They weren't great, but they weren't supposed to be. ... I gave the public what they wanted - a chance to dream, to live vicariously, to see beautiful women, jewels, gorgeous clothes, melodrama.''
His most serious effort, a film version of the Enid Bagnold play ``The Chalk Garden'' in 1964, won both critical and commercial success.
Hunter, born Martin Fuss, appeared in forgettable films like ``Louisiana Hayride'' and ``A Guy, a Gal and a Pal'' during his brief acting career. He spent nights and weekends learning to be a producer.
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