Norman Jewison was a Canadian icon. His sons alleged his wife cut off contact, coerced him to change his will

In his four-decade Hollywood career, Oscar-nominated director Norman Jewison crafted acclaimed dramas like In the Heat of the Night and A Soldier's Story. Behind the scenes, there was allegedly drama in the Toronto-born filmmaker's personal life as well in his final years.

Lawsuits filed in California and Ontario by Jewison's sons and recently obtained by CBC News raise issues that experts say are all too common when family members clash at the end of a loved one's life. 

In the court filings, Jewison's sons alleged that his second wife, Lynne St. David Jewison, progressively cut him off from friends and family starting as early as 2010, even taking over his email and phone. 

"It is the culmination of Respondent's progressive isolation and control of Mr. Jewison that, alongside the replacement of his longtime financial and legal advisers and uncharacteristic changes to his estate plan, are telltale signs of elder abuse," said the pair of lawsuits filed in May 2023 in Los Angeles Superior Court. 

In January 2024, three days after Jewison died, one of his sons also filed suit in Ontario to void his father's will that he had rewritten two months prior. The lawsuit claimed St. David Jewison had used "manipulation, coercion or outright abuse of power" to get the director to disinherit his children and bequeath millions of dollars to her instead.

None of the allegations in the California and Ontario cases were ever tested in court; the claims were ultimately resolved through multiple mediations, with different combinations of family members, spread out over 16 months. In the Ontario case, which also involved former premier Ernie Eves, a Superior Court judge in Toronto signed off on a settlement this past January, one year after Jewison died at age 97.  

The sons' California court filings alleged that their father "became heavily dependent" on St. David Jewison after he suffered a series of strokes in 2010. They married later that year. 

The applications stated that Jewison could no longer drive and that his wife became the gatekeeper of his communications and schedule, eventually also taking over his email and phone.

Kevin and Michael Jewison also stated that they noticed their father making "uncharacteristic changes" to his estate planning, including "the abrupt resignations of his lawyers and accountants of more than 40 years," starting in 2021. 

They alleged that they raised concerns about this, but that St. David Jewison then "made it even more difficult … to contact their father," before sending a final text message from her own cellphone. The May 2022 text that cut off contact with Jewison's children was allegedly signed "Dad."

Both sons stated that, as of May 2023, they hadn't been able to see or speak with their father in a year despite attempts to do so. 

"It is inconceivable to me that he does not want to see and speak to his children and grandchildren," Kevin Jewison, a camera operator and cinematographer, said in a sworn statement filed in the case. 

Michael Jewison, a producer who worked alongside his dad on a number of movies, including The Hurricane, stated in his sworn statement: "Absent judicial intervention, I am afraid that I may never have the opportunity to see or speak with my father again."

An email last month from St. David Jewison's lawyer, Ian Hull, noted the allegations against her were unproven and said she believes the claims against her were untrue.