It’s not enough that prominent people and celebrities tend to die in groups of three. Now they have to be interconnected somehow.
Maurice Sendak, the groundbreaking illustrator and children’s book author who died in Danbury, Conn., Tuesday at 83 was prominently featured in a fine 2003 documentary by Spike Jonze and Lance Bang about his life, done about the time Jonze was preparing for his creative adaptationof his most famous work, “Where the Wild Things Are.”
“Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak,” first shown on HBO as part of its documentary series, has a lot about how fear of death underscored his childhood. The film was later made available on Oscilloscope Laboratories, the production and distribution company started by Adam Yauch, the Beastie Boys member who died after a three year bout with cancer Friday. It’s really good, here’s a clip: