Kevin Jarre

Kevin Jarre
Born	Kevin Noel Clark (1954-08-06)August 6, 1954 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	April 3, 2011(2011-04-03) (aged 56) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation	Screenwriter, producer, actor
Parent(s)	Laura Devon Maurice Jarre (adoptive father)

Kevin Noel Jarre (August 6, 1954 – April 3, 2011) was an American screenwriter, actor, and film producer. He adopted the last name of his adoptive father, Maurice Jarre.

Background[]

Jarre was born on August 6, 1954 in Detroit, Michigan, to actress Laura Devon and her second husband, Cleland B. Clark, after his parents divorced, he lived with his father in Wyoming for a time, then he returned with his mother, who was married at that time to actor Brian Kelly, in the 1960s, Devon subsequently married French composer Maurice Jarre who adopted Kevin.

He was the step-brother of Jean-Michel Jarre and Stéfanie Jarre.

Career[]

In the 1960s, Jarre had small acting parts in the TV series Flipper. In England, while his father was scoring the film Ryan's Daughter, Kevin became a friend of writer/director David Lean, who encouraged him to take up screenwriting and directing, giving him the books, James Boswell's "Life of Johnson" and Alan Moorehead’s "The Blue Nile" and "The White Nile". One of his early scripts was an unproduced screenplay he had written called "Eternal War", which was sent to producer Paul Kohner,^[1] in the 1980s, he had written a story treatment that eventually became Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), as Jarre later recalled in an interview

"I wrote the first draft of "Rambo". And I just did it, I was living on dog food at the time and I, you know, I needed a gig and I wanted to finish a spec script I was writing. And you know, they called, Stallone called me in and they had this idea about what they should do in the sequel to "First Blood" and I said, "Well, how about if maybe he searches for POWs in Southeast Asia and back in Vietnam? He said "Great, let’s do it"

Jarre also wrote the screenplays for The Mummy (1999).^[2][3] and The Devil's Own (1997).^[4][5]

Jarre often worked as a script doctor, rewriting scripts, such as the 1990 movie, Navy Seals, "Track Down", an unproduced screenplay written by Ron Mita and Jim McClain, and the 1997 movie, The Jackal (in which Jarre served as a producer).^[6][7]

In addition to his Produced work, Jarre had written several scripts that were never produced, an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, an untitled Civil War suspense story, and "Blood Mark", a screenplay co-written with Desmond Nakano^{[8][9][10][11]}

He began directing Tombstone (1993) from his own screenplay but he was fired a month into shooting and replaced by George P. Cosmatos. Jarre's scenes featuring Charlton Heston are still featured in the finished film.^[12][13]

He had a role in the short A Hero of Our Time (1985), directed by Michael Almereyda and based on Mikhail Lermontov's novel of the same title, and screened in the 1992 Sundance Film Festival. He also appeared in the film Gotham, the only movie directed by Lloyd Fonvielle.

He had a profound interest in history since childhood. He was especially fascinated by the American Civil War, which led to his in-depth research of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment which inspired his screenplay for Glory (1989). He played a bit part as a quarrelsome soldier who picks a fight and later, as the 54th regiment heads for battle, yells, "Give 'em hell, 54th!" For his work on Glory, He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and a WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.^[14]

The screenplays of The Devil's Own^[15] and Tombstone^[16] were published as novels in 1997 and 1994 respectively.

Death[]

Jarre died on April 3, 2011 in Santa Monica, California, of heart failure, at the age 56.^[17]

Filmography[]

References[]

External links[]

• Kevin Jarre at IMDb
• Glory Screenwriter Kevin Jarre Dies^{[permanent dead link]}