娱乐英语新闻:U.S. director Howard Zieff dies at 81

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- "Private Benjamin" and "My Girl" director Howard Zieff has passed away at the age of 81.

    The renowned film and television commercial director died Sunday of Parkinson's disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife Ronda Gomez-Quinones said.

    Zieff is survived by his wife and sister.

    Goldie Hawn, who received an Oscar nomination for best actress for her role in "Private Benjamin" in 1980, said Zieff "had a special talent for directing comedies, always a rare gift."

    "What I remember and cherish most was his humor and love of laughter," Hawn said in a statement.

    Zieff was a top advertising print photographer and TV commercial director in the 1960s. He was instrumental in changing the face of American commercials in the sixties before taking on directorial duties.

    Born in Chicago in 1927, Zieff grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles and was a photographer for the Navy after World War II.

    He moved to New York in the 1950s and worked his way up from a job as a photo assistant.