George Armitage dead at 82: Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues director passes away

George Armitage, the visionary filmmaker behind Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, has died at 82.

His niece confirmed to TMZ that Armitage passed away last Saturday, surrounded by his family, including his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. 

The cause of death has not been revealed.

A director and screenwriter with a knack for blending crime and comedy, Armitage made his mark with the 1997 cult hit Grosse Pointe Blank, starring John Cusack as a hitman navigating a high school reunion. 

He also helmed the 1990 dark comedy Miami Blues, which featured Alec Baldwin in one of his most memorable early roles.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Armitage relocated to Beverly Hills as a child.

A director and screenwriter with a knack for blending crime and comedy, Armitage made his mark with the 1997 cult hit Grosse Pointe Blank, starring John Cusack as a hitman navigating a high school reunion

‘Yeah, I got into everything. I surfed, and we did some street racing, a lot of cruising, listening to music, it was a great time, an amazing time to be a teenager,’he told Film Comment.

It was there, at just 15, that he met his future wife, Sharon. 

The two remained inseparable, building a marriage that lasted an incredible 62 years.

His filmmaking journey kicked off with 1970’s Gas-s-s-s, a counterculture satire that caught the eye of legendary producer Roger Corman. 

Their collaboration helped shape Armitage’s career, leading him to work on a string of edgy, unconventional projects that cemented his reputation as a bold, genre-bending storyteller. 

Armitage made his directorial debut in 1971 with Private Duty Nurses, a film he also wrote, before diving into the blaxploitation genre with Hit Man (1972), which starred Pam Grier and Bernie Casey.

Over the years, he built a diverse filmography, helming action-packed thrillers like Vigilante Force (1976), the cult-favorite TV movie Hot Rod (1979), and later, the 2004 adaptation of The Big Bounce.

His collaboration with legendary independent filmmaker Corman began early in his career at Fox, leading to multiple projects that shaped his Hollywood journey.

Grosse Pointe Blank was the first film Armitage directed without also having a writing credit.

His filmmaking journey kicked off with 1970’s Gas-s-s-s, a counterculture satire that caught the eye of legendary producer Roger Corman; (Miami Blues with Alec Baldwin)

Grosse Pointe Blank was the first film Armitage directed without also having a writing credit. 

‘I probably could have, but I didn’t want to, because I was afraid… There was an initial writer who did a great job, then John Cusack and Steve Pink, who now directs, and because the Writers Guild is insane with the way they handle the credits, I decided that if I threw my name into the mix, the percentage would drop for everybody and they’d get screwed out of it,’ he told the outlet. 

‘But I did as much as anyone did in terms of writing.’

He continued, ‘The script, when I met with John [Cusack] and the writers, was 132 pages. I said: “Look, I’m not doing anything over 100 pages.” 

They said, “Okay,” and they did a re-write, and it came back 150 pages. 

‘So I said “Okay, you guys are fired,” and I spent most of pre-production re-writing the screenplay, getting it down to 102 pages. 

‘Then we would improvise, and I noticed that some of the stuff I’d cut out was in the improvs, they were bringing back stuff that I’d cut out, but we had a good time with it.’