Robert Jonathan Demme (/ˈdɛmi/ DEM-ee; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter of film and television who earned widespread acclaim.
Originally beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film Caged Heat, before becoming known for his casually humanist films such as Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Something Wild (1986), and Married to the Mob (1988). His direction of the 1991 psychological horror film The Silence of the Lambs (1991), won him the Academy Award for Best Director. His subsequent films earned similar acclaim, notably Philadelphia (1993) and Rachel Getting Married (2008).
Demme also directed numerous concert films such as Stop Making Sense (1984), Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006), and Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016), and worked on several television series as both a producer and director.