BLOW DIRECTOR TED DEMME DEAD AT 37

[Crenshaw_blvd]

The Los Angeles County Coroner reported on Feb. 2 that Ted Demme had cocaine in his system at the time of his death on Jan. 13. A blood clot in Demme’s heart muscle was the cause of death, which was ruled "accidental."

Demme suffered "sudden cardiac death" after playing basketball. He took himself out of the game and then collapsed on the bench. He was admitted to the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center at 5:05 pm.
Attempts to revive him failed. Edward "Ted" Demme was declared dead at 5:28 pm.

The director of Blow and several other movies was 37. He weighed over 200 pounds and played basketball five times a week. He referred to himself as husky. "We’re a minority that’s been deprived of work for years," he once said.

That was hardly the case with Demme, who gained notoriety in 1988 as the co-founder and producer of "Yo! MTV Raps." He directed three Dennis Leary movies (No Cure for Cancer, Lock N’ Load, The Ref) in the ’90s as well as Beautiful Girls (’96) and Life (’99). He also co-produced Tumbleweeds and A Lesson Before Dying (for HBO).

But Demme’s claim to fame will always be Blow, his cocaine epic released last year. It’s nominated for four Stony Awards: Best Movie, Best Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Actress (Penelope Cruz) and Best Soundtrack. The story of pot and coke dealer George Jung, based on Bruce Porter’s book, Blow, was a moderate success at the box office. It received mixed reviews. Modeled after GoodFellas, Blow brought you into the outrageous world of international cocaine and marijuana smuggling.

"I thought it was really important to show why all these things exist," he told the Arizona Reporter last April. " People like to escape and have fun and get high on whatever they want to get high on. So I thought it was important to show that and not judge it.

"I used to love getting high," Demme added. "Those were the best days of my life. What about now? Well, I can’t do it anymore."

Demme and his music producer wife Amanda Scheer have two children, a five-year-old daughter and two-month-old son.

The director was stricken during a NBA-sanctioned Entertainment League game at Crossroads School in Santa Monica. A cardiologist at the nearby Harbor UCLA Medical Center believes Demme was one of 250,000 Americans who suffer sudden cardiac death each year. "Fifty thousand of those people die at a very young age, like Ted Demme," stated Dr. Matthew Budoff. "He had a detectable disease that could have been treated."

The condition is characterized by plaque buildup in the arteries. "It’s a process that occurs over months or years and most likely occurs from a combination of genetic factors, plus cholesterol and blood pressure," Dr. Budoff said. "Lifestyle plays a role as well, but plays the smallest role of these factors."

Demme was working on two upcoming projects, the aquatic thriller Nautica and a documentary about ’70s movies.

[Trauma-san]

That's the exact same way my dad died, complications from Arteriosclerosis, caused a blockage in his heart, and he had a sudden cardiac arrest.  He was 55.

[bez]

dam, r.i.p