Tom Luddy, who co-founded the Telluride Film Festival as part of a long and varied career in the film industry, has died at age 79.
Luddy died Monday in Berkeley, California, following a long illness, according to a representative for the Telluride Film Festival.
Together with Bill and Stella Pence and James Card, Luddy founded the Telluride Film Festival in 1974. Over the past five decades, the intimate, remote gathering, set in a picturesque box canyon in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, has grown into one of the world's most important and beloved film festivals, a pivotal stop on the awards season calendar that has played host to eight of the last 10 best picture Oscar winners.
