John Hockridge, an accomplished first assistant director who collaborated with director Peter Segal on eight films, including the Adam Sandler starrers Anger Management, 50 First Dates and the remake of The Longest Yard, has died. He was 79.
Hockridge died April 17 of liver cancer in Portland, Oregon, his daughter Lindsey Hockridge told The Hollywood Reporter. He was diagnosed at stage 4 in December.
Hockridge also teamed with John Badham on Drop Zone (1994) and Nick of Time (1995), with Jerry Zucker on Ghost (1990) and Rat Race (2001) and with David Zucker on Scary Movie 3 (2003).
His A.D. résumé included Soapdish (1991), Necessary Roughness (1991), Penelope Spheeris’ Wayne’s World (1992), Leap of Faith (1992), Philip Noyce’s Sliver (1993), Kevin Hooks’ Black Dog (1998), The Mothman Prophecies (2002), Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010) and When in Rome (2010).
He worked on the first three features Segal directed, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Tommy Boy (1995) and My Fellow Americans (1996), followed by Get Smart (2008) and Grudge Match (2013).
Just what does an A.D. do? “Generally, we A.D.’s are logistics people,” he said in 2003. “I jokingly say that I’m the chief yeller and screamer on the set. But I really don’t work that way and don’t like people who do. The biggest job an A.D. has is to try to minimize the time for the D.P. to have the set and actors ready and the cameras rolling.”
John Edward Hockridge was born on April 2, 1947, in Mexico, Missouri. His father, D.W., was a manager with JC Penney, and the family moved around often with his dad in charge of opening new stores. He studied engineering at the University of Oklahoma before graduating with a degree in graphic design in 1969.
He and his red afro came to Hollywood in his Volkswagen van in ’69 and spent a year at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. He began work on commercials after handling photo development and printing as an intern for a local photographer.
He served as an A.D. on such TV shows as Charlie’s Angels and T.J. Hooker, then got to work on his first film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), directed by Leonard Nimoy. He would return to television, with gigs on Matt Houston, Airwolf, Beauty and the Beast and The District.
Hockridge worked for Paramount for many years before transitioning to freelance and then to retirement in 2013, and he spent much of his later years traveling around the world. His family noted he also “enjoyed nothing so much as having a great meal with his family, watching the clouds as the sun began to set.”
Survivors include his daughters, Lindsey and Kailey; their partners, Michael and William, and his three grandchildren.
