The writer-director of the Alzheimer’s drama Still Alice Richard Glatzer died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 63. Glatzer co-wrote and directed the movie alongside his husband, Wash Westmoreland, while battling ALS.
The Huffington Post reported that the pair took on the project of Still Alice in a very early stage of Glatzer’s disease.
Their film earned star Julianne Moore her first Oscar for her portrayal of an academic suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. Unable to attend the ceremony, Glatzer watched Moore’s win Feb. 22 from a hospital, where he had been taken two days prior for respiratory problems. Westmoreland watched by his side.
“I am devastated. Rich was my soul mate, my collaborator, my best friend and my life,” Westmoreland said in a statement Wednesday. He added that he takes consolation in the fact that Glatzer saw Still Alice delivered to the world.
“Richard was a unique guy— opinionated, funny, caring, gregarious, generous, and so, so smart. A true artist and a brilliant man. I treasure every day of the short twenty years we had together,” he said. “I cannot believe he has gone. But in my heart and the hearts of those who loved him he will always be alive.”
