Oscar-winning producer Saul Zaentz dies

Legendary Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz has died aged 92. The producer passed away at his home in San Francisco, California on Friday (03Jan13) after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
His nephew Paul Zaentz, a fellow producer, confirmed the news, saying, “He was an extraordinary man. He had a lot of guts, a lot of integrity.”
Zaentz began his career in the music business with Fantasy Records, signing rock legends Creedence Clearwater Revival to the label, but later becoming involved in a notorious high-profile legal battle with the band’s frontman John Fogerty.
He went on to gain recognition as an independent movie producer and he won three Oscars for his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient.
In 1997, he also won the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his work and in the same year (97), he also received the Producers Guild of America’s Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award for The English Patient.