As a teenager he would often run away from home to pursue an adventurous lifestyle, including riding in a rodeo in Arizona and playing in a jazz band in Acapulco. Rafelson attended the Trinity-Pawling School, a boarding school in Pawling, New York, from which he graduated in 1950. But if he didn't like it, I was a distant cousin!' 'If he liked a picture, then I was his favorite nephew. 'Samson took an interest in my work,' Rafelson told critic David Thomson. His much-older first cousin, once removed, was screenwriter and playwright Samson Raphaelson, the author of The Jazz Singer, who wrote nine films for director Ernst Lubitsch. Robert Jay Rafelson was born in Manhattan on Febru to a Jewish family, the son of Marjorie (Blumenfeld) and Sydney Rafelson, a hat ribbon manufacturer. His first wife was the production designer Toby Carr Rafelson. He was also one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees with BBS partner Bert Schneider. Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show were all chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. Other films he produced as part of BBS include two of the most significant films of the era, Easy Rider (1969) and The Last Picture Show (1971). Among his best-known films as a director include those made as part of the company he co-founded, Raybert/BBS Productions, Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) as well as acclaimed later films, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and Mountains of the Moon (1990). He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Robert Jay Rafelson (Febru– July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer and producer.

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