Writer-director Jonathan Kaufer, who helmed 1982’s “Soup for One,” starring Saul Rubinek, for Warner Bros., and the 1997 film “Bad Manners,” starring David Strathairn and Bonnie Bedelia, died Oct. 2 in a car accident en route from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. He was 58.

Kaufer was still in his teens attending Sarah Lawrence College when he was hired onto the writing staff of “Mork & Mindy.” Director Howard Zieff brought him into the feature arena, and Kaufer did rewrites on Barbra Streisand starrer “The Main Event” and “Unfaithfully Yours,” starring Dudley Moore.

Kaufer’s TV credits include penning episodes of ABC’s “Holmes and Yo-Yo,” NBC’s “Quark” and HBO’s “Dream On,” the last of which he also directed.

Survivors include a son, Jordan Maxwell Caufer, from his marriage to actress Pia Zadora (pictured above with Kaufer), and a brother, Scott Kaufer, a former comedy executive at Warner Bros. who has written and produced for TV.