Jackie Burch, an Emmy-nominated casting director of Die Hard, The Breakfast Club, Predator, Coming to America and scores of other films and TV series during spanning 45 years, died Sunday in Atlanta of endometrial cancer. She was 74.
Her passing was announced by longtime friend and fellow casting director Gail Goldberg. “We are heartbroken and in shock at the prospect of living without our vibrant, charming, funny, special and incredibly loving mom,” Burch’s family said in a statement. “Her generous spirit touched so many lives – professionally and personally – and we are endlessly proud of the legacy she leaves behind.”
Along with serving as casting director on many hit movies, Burch also did local, location or additional casting work on such blockbuster films as Iron Man 3, Ant-Man, The Hunger Games and its 2010s sequels and The Fast and the Furious.
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Born on March 25, 1951, in Newburgh, NY, Burch began her career in the early 1980s, serving as casting director for such features as Forbidden World, Psycho II, DC Cab and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. She then oversaw casting for three of John Hughes’ 1980s movies: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science.
Along with Hughes, Burch worked with big-name directors including Warren Beatty (Dick Tracy), Jim Abrahams (Hot Shots! Part Deux and Mafia!), John Landis (Three Amigos and Coming to America), Martha Coolidge (Real Genius), Brian Helgeland (42) and Peter Bogdanovich (Mask).
She also cast several pics from the popular action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (Commando, Predator, Predator 2, The Running Man and Red Heat) and Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd, The Specialist and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
But her top casting crown might have been what many consider one of the greatest action films of all. Burch helped launch Bruce Willis into big-screen stardom as John McClane, the put-upon NYPD cop having a bad Christmas Eve in L.A. in Die Hard (1988). John McTiernan’s film also featured a memorable villain turn by Alan Rickman as the ill-fated terrorist Hans Gruber. She went on to cast its 1990 sequel Die Hard 2.
She also served as casting director on a number of big-name sequels from Another 48 HRS., Beverly Hills Cops III and Vegas Vacation to The Santa Clause 2, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.
Her many other film credits include Fright Night, Road House (1988), Punchline, Hudson Hawk, Nowhere to Run, Diabolique, The Perfect Game and most recently Edge of Fear, Above Suspicion and last year’s Lilly. Her final project, This Is the One They’ll Remember Me By, is set for release next year.
Along the way, Burch also served as casting director on episodes of TV series including Constantine, Flight 29 Down and Ponderosa, along with some telefilms. She earned an Emmy nomination as part of the casting team for Bessie, the 2015 telepic starring Queen Latifah as legendary blues belter Bessie Smith. It scored a dozen Emmy noms overall, winning four including Outstanding Television Movie.
But also landed seven Artios Awards from the Casting Society from 1985-2018, sharing a 2017 win for Theodore Melfi’s film Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe.
Burch is survived by her daughters, Oscar nominated screenwriter Samy Burch (May December) and Molly Burch, a former singer-songwriter who helms Picnic Studio, a nonprofit art space for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities; sons-in-law Alex Mechanik and Dailey Toliver; and her twin sister, Janice Papolos.
A memorial in her honor will be held in Los Angeles with details to be announced. Donations in Burch’s can be made to The National Association of the Deaf.
The post Jackie Burch Dies: Casting Director For ‘Die Hard’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, Dozens Of Other Films & TV Shows Was 74 appeared first on Deadline.
