Attended same east-end Toronto high school (Malvern Collegiate) as famed concert pianist Glenn Gould.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 479-483. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
Directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Alan Arkin, Rod Steiger, Topol, Leonard Frey, Al Pacino, Adolph Caesar, Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly, Cher, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, and Denzel Washington. Steiger, Dukakis and Cher won Oscars for their performances in the films in which Jewison directed them.
Directed the original versions of both Rollerball (1975) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Both films were later remade by John McTiernan.
Even though he was offended by it at first, A Clockwork Orange (1971) inspired him to make Rollerball (1975) a few years later.
Father of actress Jennifer Jewison.
Father of associate producer and location manager Michael Jewison.
Father of camera-operator Kevin Jewison.
Had his own voice dubbed into Jesus Christ Superstar (1973); he's the Old Man in "Peter's Denial."
He was awarded the O.C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) on December 14, 1981 and the C.C. (Companion of the Order of Canada) on November 1, 1991 for his services to the film industry.
Inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame in 1998 (charter member).
Member of the Jury for AFI Motion Pictures Awards 2005
Norman Jewison was the son of Dorothy Irene (Weaver) and Percy Joseph Jewison, who managed a general store and post office.
The father of three children, Jewison hitchhiked across the Deep South region of the US at age 18; he was struck by its apartheid-like, strictly enforced racial segregation. He considers The Hurricane (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial injustice movies he's directed, the first two being In the Heat of the Night (1967) and A Soldier's Story (1984). Jewison cast a then largely unknown Denzel Washington in "A Soldier's Story", then coupled him with Rod Steiger in The Hurricane (1999).
Was the original director of Malcolm X (1992), however had to withdraw from the project due to outside pressure demanding that the subject be made by a black film-maker.