Andrea Nevins, documentary filmmaker, dies at 63

Andrea Blaugrund Nevins’ emotion of storytelling led her to the agrarian South, to ABC News successful her autochthonal New York and, ultimately, Hollywood, wherever she produced and directed documentaries astir dancers, punk rockers and the queen’s equine trainer.

Nevins, woman of erstwhile Showtime president David Nevins, died Saturday astatine their Los Angeles home, surrounded by family. She was 63 and had been battling bosom cancer.

In her enactment arsenic a filmmaker, Nevins pursued colorful subjects who often were experiencing beingness transitions. The archetypal abbreviated documentary she produced, “Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies,” explored aging cabaret dancers and received an Academy Award nomination. Her archetypal feature-length film, “The Other F Word,” highlighted the improvement of anti-authoritarian punk rockers, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, who had to exert authorization arsenic fathers.

Her 2018 Hulu documentary “Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie” featured interviews with Ruth Handler, inventor of the iconic doll, arsenic good arsenic feminist Gloria Steinem. The movie debuted astatine the Tribeca Film Festival successful New York.

Filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed Warner Bros.’ deed movie “Barbie,” said she drew immoderate inspiration by watching “Tiny Shoulders” due to the fact that it surfaced the anxiousness of women who worked to mold perceptions of the 12-inch doll.

Nevins took a look astatine NFL players astatine their careers’ end. She directed an occurrence of Peter Berg’s HBO bid “State of Play,” which followed erstwhile stars Brett Favre and Tiki Barber. Her follow-up feature, “Play It Forward,” explored the mid-life travel of NFL large Tony Gonzalez and his member Chris.

Her past completed project, 2023’s “The Cowboy and the Queen,” was a poignant look astatine a California equine trainer Monty Roberts, who eschewed emblematic equine grooming techniques and sparked an improbable relationship with the precocious Queen Elizabeth II.

Nevins was calved successful New York City successful 1962. Her father, Dr. Stanley Blaugrund, was manager of otolaryngology and caput and cervix country astatine New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital. Her mother, Annette, was an creation curator, writer and lecturer.

Initially, Nevins was a ballet dancer, a swimmer and a poet. She was president of her precocious schoolhouse people wherever she developed her emotion of photography. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a societal studies major.

She worked aboriginal successful her vocation arsenic a paper reporter, writer with NPR vigor successful Washington and, later, astatine ABC News successful New York, wherever she earned an Emmy Award for her reporting.

She and David Nevins, who was past moving astatine NBC, joined successful 1996.

Nevins was a founding subordinate of the Los Angeles synagogue IKAR; a co-founder of Larchmont Charter School; and a subordinate of the Southern California committee of UNICEF’s U.S. Fund. She co-founded the X-Fund, dedicated to addressing needs of women and girls successful L.A.

Nevins is survived by her hubby and their 3 children — Clara, 25, Charlie, 22, and Jesse, 19 — on with her parent and 2 siblings.