U.S. film director John Singleton to be taken off life support: family
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-nominated director John Singleton, best known for his 1991 film “Boyz n the Hood,” will be removed from life support on Monday, his family said in a statement.
Singleton, 51, recently suffered a stroke, a family spokeswoman said.
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today,” a statement from the family said.
“This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors.”
Singleton was a native of South Central Los Angeles, the community that was the setting for “Boyz n the Hood,” a drama about friendship amid the peril of gang violence.
He became the first African-American and the youngest person to be nominated for an Academy award for best director, at age 24, for the movie.
Singleton later directed movies such as action film “2 Fast 2 Furious” and historical drama “Rosewood.” He is the creator and executive producer of current cable TV series “Snowfall” about the start of the cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles.
His family said Singleton “is a prolific, ground-breaking director who changed the game and opened doors in Hollywood, a world that was just a few miles away, yet worlds away, from the neighborhood in which he grew up.”
Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Tom Brown
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