Judith James Dies: ‘Quiz Show’ & ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’ Producer, Longtime Richard Dreyfuss Collaborator Was 86

Judith James, a film, TV and Broadway producer who was Richard Dreyfuss‘ producing partner for many years and worked on such projects as Quiz Show, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Eleanor: In Her Own Words, has died July 14 of cancer in Santa Barbara, CA. She was 86.

Her son, Jackson James, revealed the news.

“From the minute I met Judy James at the Mark Taper Forum [in Los Angeles], I knew I had found someone who had the same passion for storytelling that I did,” The Goodbye Girl Oscar winner Dreyfuss said in a statement. “In all the years we were producing partners, we were of like mind, not gender, and we always found a way to agree and wouldn’t have done anything without each others’ approval. She was a wonderful woman and a great friend.”

Born Judith Rutherford, James moved to New York after college to pursue a career in theater. She produced the groundbreaking 1963 interracial off-Broadway play In White America, which was drawn from historical records by a Princeton professor and won a Drama Desk Award. She went on to score multiple Obie Awards.

By the mid-1980s, James was working in TV, producing telepic The Brotherhood of Justice and the American Playhouse production of Eleanor: In Her Own Words, starring Lee Remick as Eleanor Roosevelt, which aired on PBS and earned an Emmy nom.

Her collaboration with Dreyfuss began with the star-laden 1987 documentary Funny, You Don’t Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville, which James also co-wrote. Dreyfuss and James went on to executive-produce 1994’s Quiz Show, which earned four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Redford. James also was a co-producer on Mr. Holland’s Opus, the 1995 pic that earned Dreyfuss his second Oscar nom for Best Actor, having won for 1977’s The Goodbye Girl.

The pair also produced a telefilms including Prisoner of Honor (1991).

On Broadway, James produced the 1995 play Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years, starring Mary Alice and Gloria Foster, which played more than 300 performances at the Booth Theater. James also was an EP on the 1999 TV adaptation led by Diahann Carroll and Ruby Dee.

Her other producing credits include Daniel and the Towers (1987), Kissinger and Nixon (1995) and features Mad Dog Time (1996), The Forest (2009) and The Lightkeepers (2009).

James also was a founder and leader of The James Gang, a political network that met for more than 20 years, usually in her living room. The progressive group hosted guests that included former presidential candidates, mayors, members of Congress, authors and others. Members were often involved in political activities and in supporting candidates.

In 2005, as a member of Women In Film, James was instrumental in securing and designing an alliance with General Motors that supported programs for women filmmakers. She also taught classes at UCLA and Santa Barbara City College and recent years worked with screenwriters to help them shape and develop their original material.

During the 1960s she married personal manager, A&R man and music publicist Billy James, whose clients included Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and The Doors. They later divorced.

Along with her son, James is survived by her daughter-in-law, Caroline; a granddaughter, Josie; and a stepson, Mark.