Article content We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser, or Robert Downey Sr., director and father of actor Robert Downey Jr., dies at 85 Back to video Downey Sr. also acted, and directed several other films that gained a cult following. But 1969’s “Putney Swope” was given a mainstream release and thus exposed his work to a wider audience, which was shocked (even appalled) by much of what they saw at the time. The devastating satire of Madison Avenue follows what happens when an African American activist is given a free hand at an ad agency.