Scott Kalvert, Director, Dead At 49

Scott Kalvert, director of numerous music videos and the movie The Basketball Diaries has died at the age of fourty-nine. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has reported that the are investigation Kalvert’s death as a suicide, but did not provide any additional details. Kalvert was found dead on Wednesday afternoon at his Woodland Hills, California home. It is not known at this time who found Calvert, or the circumstances that led to the discovery.

Kalvert first came to prominence in the 80s as a music video director. Hid first music video project of note was the MTV award-winning “Parents Just Don’t Understand” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The video was universally praised and is credited with giving the hip hop video genre credibility. Kalvert would go on to direct Cyndi Lauper’s “I Drove All Night,” hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s “Good Vibrations,” Taylor Dayne’s “Tell It To My Heart,” Salt N Peppa’s “Shoop” as well as several others for Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Kalvert directed the iconic documentary “Guns N Roses: Live At The Ritz” in 1983, as well as “Form… Focus… Fitness, the Marky Mark Workout” in 1993 prior to making the move to the big screen.

He had long desired to bring The Basketball Diaries to the big screen, and did what many others could not. In 1995, Kalvert secured the film rights to Jim Carroll’s memoir, and brought the book he had read as a teenager to life. The film featured a very young Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Bruno Kirby and future co-stars of The Sopranos Vincent Pastore, Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco. Kalvert’s first attempt as a director received mixed reviews, panned harshly by some critics and lauded by others. Many considered Kalvert’s Diaries as a teen ages Leonardo DiCaprio’s break out performance. Both DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg have long credited Kalvert as contributing to their further acting success.

Kalvert’s only other film was 2002’s crime drama Deuces Wild, starring Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, Fairuza Balk, and a young Johnny Knoxville. After Deuces Wild failed to make much of a splash, Kalvert returned to music videos, and had recently started his own company, Alliance Media Group. Kalvert’s last film project of note was as Executive Producer on Nick Cannon’s School Gyrls featuring Justin Beiber and Soulja Boy.

Kalvert is survived by his wife, Sonia, and two daughters, Madison and Tyler. Funeral arrangements have not been made public at this time.