Bill Jersey, the Bay Area documentarian who wrote, directed, shot, edited, and produced films for more than a half-century, collecting two Oscar nominations and three Emmy noms along the way, has died at the age of 99. He passed away on July 24 at his home in Lambertville, New Jersey, due to congestive heart failure, his wife, Shirley Kessler, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
A Legacy of Documentaries
Bill Jersey earned his feature documentary Oscar nominations for "A Time for Burning" (1967) and "Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren" (1990). The former film profiled a white Lutheran minister's unsuccessful attempt to connect with Black people in Omaha, Nebraska. "A Time for Burning" was later inducted into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2005, as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" work. His work on the landmark 2002 PBS miniseries "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow" also earned him an International Documentary Association prize and two Emmy nominations.
A Mentor to Filmmakers
Jersey made most of his films for Quest Productions, which he launched in 1960 in New York City. He relocated to Emeryville, California in 1981, and later ran the company out of the Zaentz Media Center in Berkeley, California. Several filmmakers, including Gary Meyer, co-founder of the Landmark Theatres chain, had offices there, and Jersey served as a mentor to them for over 40 years. "If a filmmaker wanted feedback, Bill was always there to help them, at all stages of production. If they wanted an honest opinion, they asked Bill," Meyer told the Chronicle.
A Diverse Body of Work
Jersey's documentary credits included "Faces of the Enemy" (1987), "Naked to the Bone" (1997), "Eames: The Architect & the Painter" (2011), and "American Reds: The Rise and Fall of the American Communist Party" (2016). His work tackled a wide range of subjects, from the conflict between creationists and evolutionists to the search for an AIDS vaccine. He also taught at San Francisco State and was a landscape painter.
A Larger-Than-Life Figure
"When he wasn't making documentaries, Jersey was a landscape painter. After spending his last 18 years on the East Coast, he died in his studio surrounded by his art, his wife said," according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In addition to his wife, Shirley Kessler, whom he married in 1985, survivors include his children, Beth, Todd, Brian, Colin, and Josh. "If I could use one word to describe my dad, it is 'big,'" Beth told the Chronicle. "He was larger than life because he would go off and make these amazing films and win all these awards. And he never had a script."
The San Francisco International Film Festival paid tribute to Jersey by screening a selection of his documentaries in 1990. His work continues to inspire and educate audiences around the world. As the film industry mourns the loss of this dedicated documentarian, his legacy will live on through the countless films and filmmakers he mentored and inspired.
Source: Hollywood Reporter