James Foley, director of Glengarry Glen Ross, dead at 71

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 09, 2025 5:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

James Foley, a journeyman manager champion known for Glengarry Glen Ross, has died. He was 71.   

He died earlier this week aft a yearlong conflict with encephalon cancer, his representative, Taylor Lomax, said Friday.    

In his agelong and varied career, Foley directed euphony videos for Madonna, 12 episodes of House of Cards and the 2 Fifty Shades of Grey sequels, but it was his 1992 adaptation of David Mamet's foulmouthed Pulitzer Prize winning play that stood supra the rest.

Although it wasn't a deed astatine the time, Glengarry Glen Ross wormed its mode into the civilization and grew into an oft-quoted cult favourite, particularly Alec Baldwin's "always beryllium closing" monologue, which was unsocial to the movie mentation of the play.   

Critic Tim Grierson wrote 20 years aft its merchandise that it remains "one of the quintessential modern movies astir masculinity."

"While determination are galore good Mamet movies, it's absorbing that the champion of them was this 1 — the 1 helium didn't direct," Grierson said.

Hal Ashby took an aboriginal interest

Born connected Dec. 28, 1953, successful Brooklyn, Foley studied movie successful postgraduate schoolhouse astatine the University of Southern California. Legend has it that Hal Ashby erstwhile wandered into a movie schoolhouse enactment wherever his abbreviated happened to beryllium playing astatine the time, and helium took a liking to him.

Foley would aboriginal property his quality to marque his archetypal feature, Reckless, a 1984 romanticist play astir mismatched teenagers successful emotion starring Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn and Adam Baldwin, to the Ashby stamp of approval. It was besides the archetypal screenplay credited to Chris Columbus, though determination were reports of originative differences.

He followed it with the Sean Penn transgression drama At Close Range, the Madonna and Griffin Dunne screwball drama Who's That Girl and the neo-noir thriller After Dark, My Sweet, with Jason Patric.

Critic Roger Ebert included After Dark, My Sweet successful his large movies list, calling it "one of the purest and astir uncompromising of modern movie noir" contempt having been "almost forgotten."   

He besides directed respective euphony videos for Madonna, including Papa Don't Preach, Live to Tell and Who's That Girl, and an occurrence of Twin Peaks as good arsenic an occurrence of Hannibal. 

Foley adapted John Grisham and worked with Gene Hackman connected The Chamber and made the Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg teenage love-gone-scary thriller Fear.

He worked with Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz on the 2003 American transgression play Confidence and helmed the mostly derided Halle Berry and Bruce Willis intelligence thriller Perfect Stranger, which was released successful 2007.   

Bored by car chases and stunts

It would beryllium a decennary earlier his adjacent movie was released, erstwhile helium was fixed the reins to the Fifty Shades of Grey sequels: Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

"For me, what's astir challenging is worldly that doesn't impact the actors, oddly enough. In three, there's a large car pursuit and there's antithetic stunts and stuff, and that worldly truly bores me," helium told the Associated Press astatine the U.K. premiere of Fifty Shades Darker.

"So, erstwhile the actors aren't around, that's hard due to the fact that the actors springiness maine truthful overmuch vigor and benignant of engagement and a car driving by doesn't bash the aforesaid thing."

Foley was not an easy definable director, but that was by design. In 2017, helium told the Hollywood Reporter that helium had nary involvement successful repeating himself.

"I've ever conscionable followed my nose, for amended oregon for worse, sometimes for worse," helium said. "What's champion and what's worst [about the industry] are astir the aforesaid to me. What's worst is you get pigeonholed, and what's champion is I haven't been. It means that I'm inactive making movies, contempt hopping each implicit the place."   

Foley is survived by his brother, Kevin Foley, and sisters Eileen and Jo Ann.