Rush was nominated for best director and best adapted screenplay for The Stunt Man, with O’Toole nominated for best actor.
Richard Rush, the Oscar-nominated director of Freebie and the Bean and The Stunt Man, has died aged 91, reportedly of natural causes.
The Stunt Man, released in 1980, starred Steve Railsback as a wanted fugitive who evades the police by pretending to be a stunt man on a film shoot, with the connivance of the film’s director (Peter O’Toole).
It was a commercial success, but Rush would only release one more film – Freebie and the Bean – in the 70s as he struggled to get The Stunt Man off the ground.