Norman Jewison, the acclaimed and versatile Canadian-born director, whose Hollywood films ranged from Doris Day comedies to social dramas, has died at age 97.

Jewison died “peacefully” Saturday, publicist Jeff Sanderson confirmed to CBC News. Additional details were not immediately available.

The frequent Oscar nominee and Toronto native was known for stirring up controversy with his introspective films, addressing civil rights issues and religion in works such as In the Heat of the Night and the film adaptations of Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar.

“I have tended to show humanity as fallible, sensitive, befuddled, misled but redeemable, rather than mindless, relentlessly violent,” he wrote in his 2004 industry-themed autobiography, This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me.

“I want people to recognize themselves in the movies I make. I don’t enjoy no-brainer action movies.”

Movies dealt with racial issues

Jewison directed and produced over 40 films and television shows during his career, including the original version of The Thomas Crown Affair, The Cincinnati Kid, A Soldier’s Story, Moonstruck and The Hurricane. He also co-wrote the screenplay for Jesus Christ Superstar.

He became particularly fascinated with documenting racial injustice on film when he travelled through the southern U.S., after leaving the military, and witnessed the overt segregation of white and Black cultures.

“I couldn’t understand why a country would ask young men to go and fight and die for America and then when they came home they had to sit on the back of the bus,” he told attendees at a Toronto event on the Black experience in film in February 2010. 

This eye-opening journey would inspire several of Jewison’s most famous films, particularly 1967’s In the Heat of the Night, which follows two police officers who try to solve a murder while coping with their personal prejudice toward each other. It became famous for, among other things, showing an African-American man slapping a Caucasian on screen. 

“I don’t think I would have had the courage to make Monster’s Ball if I hadn’t seen In the Heat of the Night,” Precious director Lee Daniels told the Toronto Star in February 2010.

“When you understand the statement that was made at the time by a very young Jewison, made without even thinking about it, it was so candid and made with utter truth.”

The film took home five Academy Awards, including best picture and the best actor prize for Rod Steiger. Jewison also received a best director nomination.