Brian Fox, whose SoNo Cinema brought art house films to Fairfield County and spearheaded the redevelopment of South Norwalk, died on Oct. 12 at the age of 74.
A Fairfield native, Fox received a degree in cinema studies at New York University and produced an off-season foreign film series at the Westport Country Playhouse before acquiring the Penthouse Cinema, a pornographic film venue on Washington Street in South Norwalk, in 1979. Renaming the theater SoNo Cinema, Fox presented independent American productions, foreign language films and retrospective screenings of classic films.
Fox”™s big screen fare was uncommon in Connecticut theaters during the 1980s, which primarily offered Hollywood offerings, and he attracted audiences from across the state and over the Westchester border. In a 1987 interview with The New York Times, Norwalk Mayor William A. Collins praised SoNo Cinema for being “a pioneer in the revitalization of South Norwalk,” adding that Fox set up his business “before any of the construction and renovations began and attracted people who otherwise would not have come in to that section of the city.”
By the late 1980s, however, the 350-seat SoNo Cinema began to experience declining attendance. Fox blamed the situation on competition from cable television and the home video market. SoNo Cinema began operating a video rental business to supplement its revenue. Fox closed the theater in 1993, which later became the site of Nagoya Hibachi Japanese & Chinese Restaurant, and he moved to North Carolina to pursue a new career path in the health care industry.
Joe Meyers, a Connecticut-based film writer, praised Fox for his love of films and his generous personality.
“It was always great to shoot the breeze with Brian after catching a movie,” Meyers recalled in a Facebook posting. “He also screened films for me in advance of their openings when I was reviewing movies for The Telegram and the Bridgeport Post. He never gave me any flack if I wound up hating a movie he had screened privately for me. A class act and one of the most passionate movie lovers I”™ve ever met.”
So sorry to hear this!