The Los Angeles Times reports that director Bob Clark and his 22-year-old son Ariel were killed Wednesday in an early morning collision along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades.
Clark wrote, directed and produced the classic holiday film A Christmas Story in 1983 and the “Porky’s” films.
The crash was reported about 2:20 a.m. on PCH just south of Bay Club Drive. Police said Clark, 67, of Pacific Palisades, and his son, who lived in Santa Monica, were pronounced dead at the scene.
LAPD investigators said Clark was driving a 1997 Infiniti Q-30 sedan southbound on PCH when the driver of a GMC Yukon, Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles swerved and hit the Clark vehicle head-on.
Nava and his passenger, Lydia Mora, 29, of Asuza, were transported to a local hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon. Mora was later released.
Nava was found to be driving under the influence of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license. After treatment, he will be booked on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter, Vernon said.
Clark also directed Turk 182, Rhinestone with Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman-Dan Aykroyd cop buddy comedy Loose Cannons, From the Hip and Baby Geniuses.
