Brooks wrote the juicy role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove with Burt Reynolds in mind but, on account of a commitment Reynolds made to headline the comedy Stroker Ace, the actor turned down the offer. Given Brooks' track record, expectations were sky-high for his feature film directorial debut, a screen adaptation of Larry McMurtry's acclaimed novel Terms of Endearment. Brooks' first foray onto the silver screen, as screenwriter of 1979's Oscar-nominated Starting Over, was also a home run.

Brooks emerged one of the most powerful and successful forces on the small screen as the creator of mega hits Room 222, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Taxi. Nicholson would fare a whole lot better the following year. While now often looked upon as one of the more underrated Nicholson films and performances, the picture garnered a lukewarm critical reception at the time and was in and out of theaters within a month. Most of his subsequent efforts, while often critically acclaimed, failed to generate much interest at the box office.Īmong Richardson's final films was 1982 's The Border, a Nicholson vehicle that cast the star (opposite Harvey Keitel and Valerie Perrine) as a corrupt border enforcement agent. Richardson, unfortunately, would never direct another picture as commercially successful as Tom Jones. The film, based on the beloved Henry Fielding novel, was the toast of that year's Oscars, scoring four victories, including Best Picture, on its nine nominations. A sequel to the film, The Evening Star (1996), in which MacLaine and Nicholson reprised their roles, was a critical and commercial failure.In 1963, while a little-known Jack Nicholson was taking on supporting turns opposite horror legend Boris Karloff in a pair of Roger Corman-directed B-movies ( The Raven and The Terror), English filmmaker Tony Richardson barnstormed Hollywood with Tom Jones. The film received a leading eleven nominations at the 56th Academy Awards, and won five (more than any other film nominated that year): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for MacLaine), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (for Nicholson). Terms of Endearment received critical acclaim and was a major commercial success, grossing $164.2 million worldwide, becoming the 2nd highest grossing film of 1983 worldwide. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Winger).

It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow.

Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. Terms of Endearment is a 1983 American family comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by James L.

Terms of endearment novel