The man who directed The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia died today (April 26) after a long battle with esophageal cancer. Jonathan Demme was 73.  

Although he never abandoned the maverick sensibility that produced freewheeling work like Melvin and Howard or Something Wild, Demme managed to achieve huge mainstream success in the '90s, scoring an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs—and concurrently breaking the unwritten rule that horror movies don't win Oscars. 

Demme's movie career began in 1973 with the exploitation quickie Caged Heat, one of three films he directed for producer Roger Corman. In the '80s, he emerged as one of the brighest voices in American cinema, adding titles like Swimming to Cambodia, Married to the Mob, and the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense to his resume.

The latter spoke to a career-long passion for marrying music and film. In the 2000s Demme made not one but three documentaries with Neil Young, and even got behind the camera for a Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids concert film in 2016.

Still, Demme never really abandoned his countercultural roots. When a short film was made in 2015 about Reid Fleming, the World's Toughest Milkman—a classic underground comic strip that started right here in the Straight in 1978—it was Demme who provided the narration.

In a statement to the media, Demme's Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster wrote: "Just as passionate about music as he was about art, he was and will always be a champion of the soul. JD, most beloved, something wild, brother of love, director of the lambs. Love that guy. Love him so much.”