Normandy was completed shortly after his death by Gina Leibrecht, and was a portrait of the co-founder of Direct Cinema, Richard Leacock. In 2007 Blank was awarded the prestigious Edward MacDowell Medal in the Arts. Les's son, Harrod Blank, has also become a documentary filmmaker. Blank lived in the Berkeley Hills and for more than 30 years he was a resident of Berkeley, which celebrated Les Blank Day on Jan 22, 2013. His company, Flower Films, was based in El Cerrito, Contra Costa County, California. Blank died of bladder cancer at his Berkeley Hills home on April 7, 2013. Legacy Blank was the first documentary filmmaker to earn the Edward MacDowell Medal in 2007, a national honor given to one artist a year. He was awarded in 1990 the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award for outstanding lifetime achievement as an independent filmmaker. In 2011, the International Documentary Association honored Blank with a career achievement award. Two months prior to Blank's death, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival announced that Blank had been accepted to receive its 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award along with a retrospective of his work at the festival, which took place from April 25 to May 5, 2013. Archive The moving image collection of Les Blank is held at the Academy Film Archive. The Academy Film Archive has preserved numerous Les Blank films including A Well Spent Life, Always for Pleasure, and Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. Filmography 1960 - Running Around Like a Chicken With Its Head Cut Off 1960–1985 - Six Short Films of Les Blank 1961, - Strike! 1962 - And Freedom Came?! 1965 - Dizzy Gillespie 1967 - Christopher Tree 1968 - The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins 1968 - God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance 1969 - The Arch 1969 - The Sun's Gonna Shine 1970 - Chicken Real 1971 - Spend It All 1971 - A Well Spent Life 1973 - Dry Wood 1973 - Hot Pepper 1974 - A Poem Is a Naked Person 1976 - Chulas Fronteras≠ 1978 - More Fess 1978 - Always for Pleasure 1979 - Del Mero Corazon 1980 - Poto and Cabengo (cinematographer) 1980 - Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe 1980 - Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers≠ 1982 - Burden of Dreams 1983 - Sprout Wings and Fly 1984 - In Heaven There Is No Beer?