Director Jonathan Kaplan, who earned five Emmy nominations for his work on ER and directed Jodie Foster in The Accused, has died at 77. Kaplan passed away at his Los Angeles home Friday after a battle with liver cancer, his daughter Molly told The Hollywood Reporter. Raised in a showbiz family—his uncle was Oscar-winning actor Van Heflin—Kaplan studied film under Martin Scorsese at New York University, according to Variety. His first feature film was 1972’s hit sex comedy Night Call Nurses. In 1988, he directed the critically acclaimed drama The Accused, a film that earned Foster her first Academy Award for Best Actress. He directed Michelle Pfeiffer to a best actress Oscar nomination in 1992’s Love Field. Working primarily in TV since the 1990s, Kaplan directed over 40 episodes of ER from 1997 to 2009. He shared three Emmy nods with creator Michael Crichton and executive producer John Wells for producing the show, and received two directing nominations. Kaplan was married to casting director Julie Selzer from 1987 until their divorce in 2001. Molly remembered him as a “loving, supportive father.”
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