Second-generation Hollywood film producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. has died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family said. He was 88.
The Samuel Goldwyn Films founder is credited with putting Julia Roberts on the map with 1988's Mystic Pizza. He also was an early supporter of celebrated arthouse directors Ang Lee, Anthony Minghella and Kenneth Branagh.
"Most people don't quite realize what an independent film pioneer he was," Thomas E. Rothman, chairman of TriStar and founder of Fox Searchlight, told The New York Times. "Sam was the inspiration for Fox Searchlight."
Goldwyn's credits include Longtime Companion, The Proud Rebel, Cotton Comes to Harlem, The Preacher's Wife, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.