USA

Aram "Al" Avakian was born in Manhattan, New York, in 1926 to Armenian parents from Iran and Soviet Georgia. He graduated Horace Mann School and Yale University before serving as a Naval officer on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. On the G.I. Bill after the war he went to France where he attended the Sorbonne. There he was part of a tight group of young friends who defined the American literary movement of 1950's Paris, including Terry Southern, William Styron, John P. Marquand, and George Plimpton. In 1953, Avakian returned to the United States and apprenticed under Gjon Mili who got him started in documentary editing. In his spare time Avakian took still photographs of the legendary jazz sessions his brother the jazz producer George Avakian recorded. He soon became a feature film editor and director. In 1958, he co-directed with Bert Stern, a filmed record of the Newport Jazz Festival. The result, Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), which Avakian also edited, is credited with being "the first feature-film documentary of a music festival. Avakian directed the movie End of the Road (1970), which received an "X" rating for its graphic depiction of an abortion. For End of the Road, Avakian received the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno International Film Festival. End of the Road is an early indie picture which bucked Hollywood conventions and was before its time. From 1983 through 1986, Avakian was chairman of the film department at State University of New York at Purchase. He passed away in 1987 at the age of 60. Arthur Penn spoke at Avakian's 1987 memorial. Francis Coppola and Terry Southern wrote letters about Avakian, which were read aloud, and Gerry Mulligan played his saxophone, as well as others. Biography Source

Filmography

Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
Lad, A Dog (1962)
One Night Stands (1967)
End of the Road (1970)
Cops and Robbers (1973)
11 Harrowhouse (1974)