Richard M. Brett, professor at McDaniel College, dies

Richard M. Brett, a professor of communication and cinema at McDaniel College, died of sepsis Jan. 24 at Carroll Hospital in Carroll County. The Westminster resident was 62.

“The film ‘Jaws,’ which he saw as a boy, changed his view of filmmaking and made him want to study cinema,” said Jonathan Slade, chair of the department of communication and cinema at McDaniel. Mr. Slade brought Mr. Brett to the college’s Westminster campus 14 years ago.

“He was really interested in film on a granular level and how images were made,” Mr. Slade said. “He was really interested in how filmmakers used miniatures and forced perspective, like the glass paintings in ‘Gone with the Wind,’” he said referring to the technique of painting a film set on glass and using it as a backdrop.

Richard Moffat Brett, son of Cecil Carter Brett, a college professor, and Jean Moffat Brett, a homemaker, was born in Bangkok and raised in Monmouth, Illinois. He spent summers at a family cabin in Traverse City, Michigan, where he enjoyed sailing and studying painting at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

When he was 11, his parents gave him a Super 8 movie camera at a time when “Jaws” and “Star Wars” were in theaters.  He then started making his own movies in the same genres.

After graduating from Monmouth High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1984 from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in film production from the University of Iowa.

Richard M. Brett collected vintage stereoscopic images and amassed a large library of films and books devoted to the subject.

Mr. Brett obtained another master’s degree in fine arts in broadcasting and cinema in 1994 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Before coming to McDaniel in 2010, where he helped create the college’s cinema program, he had taught at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and at what is now St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina.

At McDaniel, he was responsible for teaching 10 courses, including scriptwriting, film production, and how to analyze great films.

He was also involved in the McDaniel Cinema Showcase, where students show original films.

“My goal isn’t to have them make films I would have made. It’s to lend my expertise and push them harder as a director,” he said to the school’s newspaper.

Mr. Brett was greatly influenced by directors including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock.

“Those directors were classic Hollywood cinema guys,” Mr. Slade said.

“Richard absolutely loved the artistry and mastery of Hitchcock’s films. He thought they were an excellent example for his students of how to put a film together,” wrote his wife, Bonnie Coffman, in an email. “Story, pacing, use of matte paintings for backdrops, musical score and more. Hitchcock films had it all.”

Some of her husband’s favorite movies, Ms. Coffman said in a telephone interview, were “Casablanca,” “The Godfather” and “Jaws.”

“To create a film you must be a combination of artist, leader, psychologist, writer, technician, motivational coach, and all-around troubleshooter … just to name a few,” Mr. Brett told the college publication.

“He was a cineaste, but not a cinema snob,” Mr. Slade said in a statement from McDaniel announcing Mr. Brett’s death. “He was accessible, curious, and kind, never at a loss for a relevant movie quote. His lectures were full of good humor and laughter.”

“He was admired and beloved by his students,” Mr. Slade said in a telephone interview. “He kept in touch with them after they graduated. He was a gentle man in the classic sense of the word. He was patient and deferring to both his students and colleagues.”

Mr. Brett was the recipient of a regional Emmy and was the faculty adviser for the college’s film club.

He enjoyed painting landscapes, portraits and Trompe l’Oeils, or optical illusions.

“He called painting his guilty pleasure,” Ms. Coffman said.

“I get tremendous fulfillment and peace from painting,” he told the Carroll County Times in 2017. “It pushes everything else out of my mind. It is pure, unadulterated fun.”

He also collected vintage stereoscopic images and amassed a large library of films and books devoted to the subject.

“He was the last man on the planet who had Netflix send him DVDs, which they allowed him to keep and he added to his collection,” Mr. Slade said.

Mr. Brett was an avid walker and a ubiquitous presence on campus and in Westminster.

Mr. Brett and his wife, a dental hygienist, had been close friends for seven years.

“We were married two weeks before his death in the hospital,” Ms. Coffman said.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Baker Memorial Chapel on the McDaniel campus.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a stepdaughter, Kara Coffman, who graduated from McDaniel.