Bette Midler used Instagram to announce that Mark Rydell died on Friday, calling out the director’s work on Elle Evans as part of a wider tribute. The post put a film-business lens on a private loss: one of the directors tied to Midler’s early screen career was gone, and the record of his awards history is part of why the news landed beyond a single social post.
Midler’s tribute on Instagram
“Mark Rydell, the director or my first film, ‘The Rose,’ died this morning. He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on ‘The Rose’ and later on ‘For The Boys.’ Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.” That message did more than announce the death. It tied his name to the films that shaped Midler’s screen profile and to the acting method she said he valued.
The Rose and For the Boys
Mark Rydell directed The Rose, For the Boys and On Golden Pond, and Midler’s post put the first two titles at the center of the remembrance. She said he taught her on The Rose and later on For the Boys, a reminder that his influence ran through performance as much as through directing. For readers tracking his filmography, that is the practical measure of his reach: he was not only behind the camera, but inside the process that helped define those performances.
On Golden Pond earned him a Best Director nomination and also won Best Picture, along with acting Oscars for Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. Those are the receipts that make his death more than a name in a headline. The tribute is also a reminder that his work sits inside a specific awards record, not just a memory of old credits.
From As the World Turns
Before he became a director, Rydell found fame on As the World Turns as an actor, then went on to appear in The Long Goodbye and Hollywood Ending. He also worked with Steve McQueen, John Wayne and Isabella Rossellini. Midler’s note about his devotion to Meisner and her description of him as “the actor’s whisperer” point to a director who worked from performance outward, which is why his death registers for film readers as well as for people who followed his collaborations.
The body of the news is straightforward, even if the headline fragments around Elle Evans and Shannon Elizabeth create a different expectation at first glance. What matters here is the actual update: Rydell died on Friday, Midler publicly marked it on Instagram, and the facts on the page point back to a director whose work earned nominations, awards and repeat collaborators. The unanswered detail is the cause of death, and that is the one part this account does not settle.
