Thread: 'A Christmas Story' director killed in crash

'A Christmas Story' director killed in crash
Story Highlights• Robert Clark, 22-year-old son killed in head-on car crash
• Police: Other car driver to be book on suspected drunken driving
• Clark also directed "Porky's" "Rhinestone," and "Breaking Point"

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Film director Robert Clark, best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story," was killed with his son Wednesday in a head-on crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a drunken driver, police and the filmmaker's assistant said.

Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.

The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PDT, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman. The driver of the other car was under the influence of alcohol and was driving without a license, Vernon said.

The driver, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles, remained hospitalized and will be booked for investigation of gross vehicular manslaughter after being treated, Vernon said. A female passenger in his car also was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released, police said.

In Clark's most famous film, all 9-year-old Ralphie Parker wants for Christmas is an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle.

His mother, teacher and Santa Claus all warn: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

A school bully named Scut Farkus, a leg lamp, a freezing flagpole mishap and some four-letter defiance helped the movie become a seasonal fixture with "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street."

Scott Schwartz, who played Flick in "A Christmas Story" and kept in touch with Clark, called Clark one of the "nicest, sweetest guys that you'd ever want to come in contact with."

"It's a tragic day for all of us who knew and loved Bob Clark," Schwartz said. "Bob was a fun-loving, jelly-roll kind of guy who will be sorely missed."

Clark specialized in horror movies and thrillers early in his career, directing such 1970s flicks as "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Murder by Decree," "Breaking Point" and "Black Christmas," which was remade last year.

His breakout success came with 1981's sex farce "Porky's," a coming-of-age romp that he followed two years later with "Porky's II: The Next Day."

In 1983, "A Christmas Story" marked a career high for Clark. Darrin McGavin, Melinda Dillon and Peter Billingsley starred in the adaptation of Jean Shepard's childhood memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it.

In 1994, Clark directed a forgettable sequel, "It Runs in the Family," featuring Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Kieran Culkin in a continuation of Shepard's memoirs.

In recent years, Clark made family comedies that were savaged by critics, including "Karate Dog," "Baby Geniuses" and its sequel, "Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2."

Among Clark's other movies were Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton's "Rhinestone," Timothy Hutton's "Turk 182!", and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd's "Loose Cannons."


http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Hmmm...when I put two and two together, this looks like another illegal immigrant just killed two people. And at least one of those people were a very prominent person in Hollywood. Do you think this will open anyone's eyes?

We need some of our best activists all over this case ASAP. It has the markers of being an illegal alien without a license.

We need to break this to the nation if we get the confirm on the illegal status.

Anyone ready to take a roll digging in fast on this one???

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

We need some of our best activists all over this case ASAP. It has the markers of being an illegal alien without a license.

We need to break this to the nation if we get the confirm on the illegal status.

Anyone ready to take a roll digging in fast on this one???

W

I'll send it to Drudge, Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly. I am also trying to find a contact for his office to rally support from his friends and family.

Neese,

No need for our people to send this anywhere or do anything until the suspect has been proven to be an illegal alien. Hispanic drunk drivers is not our concern. Illegal aliens are and this piece is up as a work in progress.

If you want some tips on how you can help to verify this guy's legal status, pm me and Ill give you some direction if you want to help.

W

I called the LAPD without any luck...I will try again tomorrow, and emailed the man who wrote the article in hopes of getting an answer. I will keep you updated.

I am so very sad to hear this.
How many more Americans must we lose?
This director gave my family a beloved Christmas tradition.
And his son was only 22. What might he have contributed to the world?
I can't stand this. We are like ducks in a row at a shooting range for these drunk (potentially illegal) drivers.
My heart hurts this morning.

This is such a needless tragedy. Look at the "images", especially #5, these guys did not stand a chance. And how does a man without a drivers license afford a Yukon? Makes you wonder...

http://www.nbc4.tv/traffic/11517445/detail.html

Originally Posted by Neese

This is such a needless tragedy. Look at the "images", especially #5, these guys did not stand a chance. And how does a man without a drivers license afford a Yukon? Makes you wonder...

http://www.nbc4.tv/traffic/11517445/detail.html

I won't look because I may throw my computer out the window(having one of those days), but do keep us posted. I would be most interested to hear.

It frustrates me that the criminal always seems to survive these types of accidents (probably because they are drunk), and the innocent people die. For God's sake, Hollywood...start screaming!!!!!

On a lighter note...Annie, your monkey cracks me up. I needed a laugh today.