Robert “Bob” Rosen, a pioneering film historian, archivist and former dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, has died. He was 84.
Rosen died Wednesday, UCLA said without specifying a cause of death. Born in 1940, Rosen was named Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1999, a position he held for slightly more than a decade.
Before that, he served as director of archives at UCLA starting in 1975, growing the school’s original film and TV vault into a world-leading collection. That appointment grew out of an invitation to teach one 10-week course at the UCLA Department of Film and Television in 1974.
“I never left. Understanding motion pictures and teaching filmmakers was to become my life’s goal, and over the course of the next four decades, I served as professor, then department chair, and finally for 11 years as dean of the school,” Rosen said during an informal conversation at the 68th International Federation of Film Archives Congress in Beijing in 2012.
“Bob was a transformative figure at UCLA, and his contributions to the field of film and television education, as well as his leadership here at the School of Theater, Film and Television, have left an indelible mark on our community,” UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Dean Brian Kite said in a statement. “Bob’s impact on the global film community was profound, and his legacy will continue to shape the industry for years to come.”
In 2008, Rosen told the Associated Press that studying classic films helped young filmmakers find new ways to tell stories and discover their own point-of-view. “When you look at films from the past, you see the many different ways that filmmakers solve storytelling problems,” he noted. “And you break with formulas because you realize there are many ways to solve a problem. By looking at the past, you get the courage to find your own voice.”
Rosen…
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