Rambo, Glory and Tombstone Screenwriter Kevin Jarre Dead at 56

Famed scribe died suddenly of heart failure on April 3; other credits include Mummy reboot

By Bruna Nessif Apr 23, 2011 4:28 PMTags
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The man who helped earn Denzel Washington an Oscar, made Rambo an international icon of badassery and (for better or worse) launched Brendan Fraser's Mummy franchise has died.

Famed screenwriter Kevin Jarre 's life was unexpectedly cut short after suffering heart failure on April 3 in Santa Monica, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 56.

He leaves behind a legacy of major motion pictures.

Jarre was born Aug. 6, 1954, in Detroit, but not too long after, made the move to Los Angeles with his actress mother, Laura Devon.

His love of of American history, particularly the Civil War, helped inform one of his most acclaimed screenplays, Glory.

"I never thought I could interest anybody in it," Jarre told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. "A Civil War epic, about black people? But I'd got really attached to the story.... I'd end up in tears when I got through writing."

The film, starring Washington, Matthew Broderick and Morgan Freeman, went on to win three Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Washington.

Jarre's other credits included Sylvester Stallone's hugely popular Rambo, the Val Kilmer-Kurt Russell cult-hit Western Tombstone, the Brad Pitt-Harrison Ford thriller The Devil's Own and the reboot of The Mummy.

Rest in peace.