Robert Downey Sr., the acclaimed actor and filmmaker, died Wednesday morning in his sleep at home in New York City, his wife told the Daily News. Downey, 85, had been living with Parkinson’s disease for over five years. His wife, bestselling author Rosemary Rogers, was home with him when he died. Father of Robert Downey Jr., the born-and-raised New Yorker served in the Army, won a Golden Gloves boxing championship, and was writing Off–Off Broadway plays by the time he was 22 years old. As a filmmaker, he achieved success helming anti-Establishment films like 1964’s Babo 73, 1966’s Chafed Elbows, and 1969’s cult hit Putney Swope, a satirical depiction of the advertising industry. The film, which follows a Black advertising exec (Arnold Johnson) inadvertently made chairman of a powerful firm, was selected for the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2016. In 1972, it was followed by Greaser’s Palace, a Western which his son appeared in as a child, along with his first wife, Elsie Downey, and their daughter, Allyson. He married Rogers in 1998, three years following the death of his second wife, Laura Ernst. Best known for his acting roles in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and To Live and Die in L.A,, Downey Sr. directed films until 2005, with the documentary Rittenhouse Square. Most recently, he appeared in 2011’s Tower Heist, alongside Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, and Casey Affleck. “Last night, dad passed peacefully in his sleep after years of enduring the ravages of Parkinson’s …he was a true maverick filmmaker, and remained remarkably optimistic throughout,” Robert Downey Jr. wrote on Instagram. “According to my stepmom’s calculations, they were happily married for just over 2000 years. Rosemary Rogers-Downey, you are a saint, and our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
