Legendary Academy Award Producers
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- Producer
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Saul Zaentz learned gambling as a youth in Passaic, New Jersey, playing a card game called briscola. Later, in his twenties, he earned a full-time living as a gambler.
Saul settled in San Francisco after WWII, at first working for a local record distributor and eventually joining the jazz record label Fantasy Records. Working as a salesman and manager for years at Fantasy taught him the value of good relationships with vendors and distributors. This approach greatly affected his approach to the movie business.
Saul and a group of partners bought Fantasy Records in 1967. Fantasy was a successful independent record label, but Saul wanted to expand, to make films. He and his partners worked very hard to cultivate deals with film distribution houses all over the world. Many of these distributors invested in or helped secure funding for his films, in light of the success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). As a result, Saul was able to remain independent of Hollywood, making the films he wanted to make.- Producer
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- Casting Director
Scott Rudin was born on 14 July 1958 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and casting director, known for No Country for Old Men (2007), Lady Bird (2017) and The Social Network (2010).- Producer
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His father was the film director Ralph Thomas who was best known for directing the 'Doctor' film series. His Uncle was Gerald Thomas, director of the "Carry On" film series. Films were part of Jeremy's life since childhood when holiday were spent on locations or in the studios. From the age of 10 his only ambition was to make films .Originally he wanted to be a director but ended up as a producer. He started from school working in the processing labs then a year later he was in the cutting rooms as an assistant graduating to editor. After helping director Phillipe Mora edit 'Brother Can You Spare a Dime' he went with him to Australia in 1974 and produced his first film. 'Mad Dog Morgan' which Phillipe directed. After 2 years he returned to Britain and put together 'The Shout' which won the 'Grand Prix de Jury at Cannes Film Festival and found himself on the producing circuit ranging from 'The Great Rock 'n; Roll Swindle' to 'bad Timing' to 'Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence .In 1985 he set up his own film distribution company -Record Releasing and took over the Gate Cinema in London's Notting Hill Gate and the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh. In 1986 he won the Vittorio de Sica prize while the following year he was invited to be a member of the Cannes Film Festival Jury.- Producer
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Dino De Laurentiis left home at age 17 to enrol in film school, supporting himself as an actor, extra, propman, or any other job he could get in the film industry. His persistence paid off, and by the time he reached his 20th birthday he already had one produced film under his belt. After serving in the Italian army during World War II, De Laurentiis went back into film production, and in 1946 scored a critical and commercial international hit with Bitter Rice (1949) ("Bitter Rice"). He later married its star, Silvana Mangano. De Laurentiis eventually formed a partnership with producer Carlo Ponti, and the team had a string of hits, including several by director Federico Fellini. After the partnership dissolved, De Laurentiis embarked on a plan to build his own studio facilities, which would enable him to make the kind of massive spectacles he wanted to make. The studio complex, called Dinocitta', eventually was forced to close down due to a combination of hard times in the Italian film industry and a string of flops by De Laurentiis himself. De Laurentiis eventually sold the property to the Italian government and moved his base of production to the United States. He again opened up a film production complex in Wilmington, North Carolina, called DEG Studios, but was eventually forced by economic conditions to sell that, too. De Laurentiis has had some critical successes since his move to the U.S. (Ragtime (1981)), but most of his U.S. productions have been critically lambasted, although several have been commercial successes.- Producer
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Albert Romolo Broccoli was born in Astoria, Queens (New York City) on April 5th, 1909. His mother and father, Cristina and Giovanni Broccoli, raised young Albert in New York on the family farm. The family was in the vegetable business, and Albert claimed one of his uncles brought the first broccoli seeds into the United States in the 1870's. Albert's cousin Pat DiCicco gave him the nickname "Cubby" after a comic strip character named Kabibble. Cubby worked in a pharmacy and then as a coffin-maker, but a trip to see his cousin in Los Angeles gave him an ambition for film stardom. Pat was an actor's agent, and introduced Cubby to such stars as Randolph Scott, Cary Grant and Bob Hope.
In 1940, at the age of 31, Cubby married actress Gloria Blondell. That same year the head of 20th Century-Fox offered him an assistant director position on The Outlaw (1943), directed by Howard Hawks and produced by his good friend Howard Hughes. After this initial job opportunity Cubby became the top assistant director at Fox. He went on to serve as A.D. on such films as The Song of Bernadette (1943) and The Black Swan (1942). When World War II began, Cubby joined the U.S. Navy, where he met future film producer Ray Stark, and together they become heads of entertainment for the troops. Cubby and Gloria decided to end their marriage in 1945, but remained good friends. After the war Cubby determined to get back into the movie business.
In 1946 his cousin Pat worked out the financing for a project called Avalanche (1946), on which Cubby served as production manager. The film spawned a partnership between Cubby and director Irving Allen. Broccoli and Allen later formed Warwick Productions, which eventually became a very successful independent production company based in London, England. After the poor response to "Avalanche", however, Broccoli worked various odd jobs, including selling Christmas trees in California, and eventually took a job as a talent agent, where he represented, among others, Robert Wagner and Lana Turner.
In 1951 Cubby married Nedra Clark. That same year he left the talent agency and, together with his partner Allen, reformed Warwick to make Paratrooper (1953). The film, released in the US as "Paratrooper", was very profitable. Broccoli and Allen become the most successful independent producers in England, turning out such hits as Safari (1956), Zarak (1956) and The Bandit of Zhobe (1959). Cubby and Nedra wanted to start a family but, according to the doctor, Nedra was unable to become pregnant. They instead adopted a young baby boy named Tony. Shortly afterwards Nedra became pregnant after all, and gave birth to a girl, whom they named Tina. Unfortunately, Nedra died in New York shortly afterwards. Cubby was now a widower with two children to raise. He spent months trying to get new film projects off the ground and support his family.
Cubby met Dana Wilson at a New Year's Eve party and there was an instant attraction. The two fell in love and, after five weeks, Cubby proposed marriage. Dana flew to London and started a new life with Cubby. However, things were about to turn sour for him. After making The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), which was financed out of his and Allen's own pockets, the two went bankrupt due to the poor box-office returns because of adverse reaction to the subject matter--Oscar Wilde's homosexuality. The film wasn't allowed to be advertised in the US and never made back its production costs during initial release. Cubby and Allen ended their partnership after the failure of the film. On June 18, 1960, Dana gave birth to a baby girl, Barbara Broccoli. One night Dana asked Cubby if there was something he really wanted to do. Cubby replied. "I always wanted to film the Ian Fleming James Bond books."
Cubby then managed to meet with Harry Saltzman, the man who held the option to the books. Together they formed Eon Productions Ltd. and Danjaq S.A. to make the first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962). However, they needed financing. The two men flew to New York and met with Arthur Krim, the head of United Artists. Within the hour Broccoli and Saltzman had a deal to make the first 007 film adventure. Despite the small budget of $1 million, the producers insisted on filming on location in Jamaica and using the then virtually unknown Sean Connery in the title role. Bond became the most successful film series in history and made Cubby Broccoli a household name.
Together with Saltzman, Broccoli produced From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). After nine years as partners, Saltzman sold his share of Eon/Danjaq to United Artists and Cubby became the sole producer of the James Bond films. He later brought in his stepson, Michael G. Wilson, and his daughter Barbara, making it a true family affair. Broccoli's last non-Bond film was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). He had purchased the rights to this Ian Fleming story when he got the 007 book option. They brought in songwriters Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who were under contract to Disney, to write the music for this musical.
In 1982 Broccoli received the Irving G. Thalberg Award for his long and successful producing career. The award was presented by Roger Moore at the Academy Awards ceremony. Broccoli stated that it was one of the happiest days of his life and was very pleased to have received such a great honor. He stopped during his speech to thank all of the hundreds of crew technicians and actors who have helped make his films possible. In 1990 he was honored by having his star placed on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and was even honored by the Queen of England for his contribution to cinema and the British community. Broccoli's last film was Licence to Kill (1989). He had heart problems throughout the early 1990s and was unable to go to the set of GoldenEye (1995).
Cubby's last years were spent at his home in Beverly Hills, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Despite awards, honors and an amazing film career, the most important thing in his life was his family. After undergoing a triple-bypass in 1995, Cubby Broccoli passed away on Thursday, June 27, 1996, surrounded by loved ones. He was 87 and was one of the best-loved and most respected producers in Hollywood. No one ever had anything bad to say about Cubby and, according to many, he was a gentleman who cared about every one of his cast and crew and was the last true film producer. Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli's legacy lives on thanks to his family, which carries on the tradition of making the James Bond films.- Producer
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Ian Bryce is known for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Almost Famous (2000) and Transformers (2007). He is married to Taylor Gilbert. They have two children.- Gary Levinsohn was born in 1959 in South Africa. He is a producer, known for Saving Private Ryan (1998), 12 Monkeys (1995) and Virus (1999).
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Michael Phillips has been producing films and television in Hollywood since 1971. His films have garnered 23 Academy Award nominations, winning him a best picture Oscar for The Sting, a Palme d'Or Prize for Taxi Driver, and Italy's David di Donatello award for best picture for Clsoe Encounters of the Third Kind.
Phillips graduated from Dartmouth college with an A.B. in History in 1965 and from NYU Law School with a Juris Doctor degree in 1968. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1969. He serves as a Trustee Professor at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film & Media Arts, and has taught classes there on Cinema of the '70s, Science Fiction in cinema, and on the films of Akira Kurosawa.- Producer
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Lawrence Gordon (Producer) has been one of the entertainment industry's most prolific and successful producers in a career spanning six decades. He has been behind such timeless films as the drama "Field of Dreams," for which Gordon received a Best Picture Oscar nomination; the landmark action film "Die Hard"; and the ultimate buddy picture "48 Hrs.," starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, Gordon graduated from Tulane University with a degree in business administration. Moving to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, he went to work as executive assistant to Aaron Spelling at Four Star Television and soon became a writer and associate producer of Spelling shows. He followed with a stint as head of West Coast talent development for ABC Television and later as an executive with Bob Banner Associates. In 1968, he joined Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson at American International Pictures (AIP) as story editor, and rose to vice president in charge of development. He then segued to vice president at Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, where he helped put together the classic television movie "Brian's Song," as well as the first "novel for television," the adaptation of Leon Uris' QB VII. Accepting an offer to become the first executive in the company's history to head worldwide production, Gordon returned to AIP. His many projects included "Coffy," "Foxy Brown," "Hell's Angels '69," "Wild in the Streets," John Milius' "Dillinger" (which Gordon also executive-produced), and Ralph Bakshi's groundbreaking and controversial animated hit "Heavy Traffic," which was named one of The New York Times' top-10 films of 1973. Gordon then formed Lawrence Gordon Productions and began a long and successful association with director Walter Hill. Among the duo's memorable titles are "Hard Times," starring Charles Bronson; "The Driver," with Ryan O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani; the cult classic "The Warriors"; "48 Hrs.," teaming Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, in his feature film debut; the rock-and-roll fable "Streets of Fire"; "Brewster's Millions," with Richard Pryor and John Candy; and "Another 48 Hrs.," which reunited the stars from the original. Gordon also produced the comedy hit "The End," starring Burt Reynolds, and collaborated with him again on the box office smash "Hooper." During this period, Gordon also produced the Paul Schrader-penned "Rolling Thunder," and the now-cult movie musical "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. By 1977, he was housed at Paramount Pictures with an overall producing deal. In 1982, he reunited with his old boss Aaron Spelling to create and executive produce the ABC television series "Matt Houston." In 1984, Gordon became president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox, where he oversaw such successful titles as James Cameron's "Aliens"; James L. Brooks' "Broadcast News"; "Commando," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; and "Jewel of the Nile," starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. During his tenure, "The Simpsons" television series was created by Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, as were series by Stephen Bochco and David E. Kelley. After his stint at Fox, in 1986, Gordon produced the critically acclaimed "Lucas," marking the directorial debut of David Seltzer; and "Jumpin' Jack Flash," starring Whoopi Goldberg, which was Penny Marshall's first film as a director. During the 1980s, Gordon also produced for the stage. For Broadway, he produced the 1986 musical "Smile," with music by Tony, Grammy and Oscar winner Marvin Hamlisch and book and lyrics by Tony and Oscar winner Howard Ashman. Off-Broadway, Gordon produced the 1982 revival of Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloane," which won the Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Play. For the screen, Gordon produced the 1987 summer action hit "Predator," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, later, its sequel. In 1988, he produced the mega-blockbuster "Die Hard," which introduced Bruce Willis as an action hero and forever changed the action genre. The film went on to spawn three hit sequels, in addition to becoming one of cinema's most successful and imitated franchises. The following year, Gordon produced another seminal hit, "Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner under the direction of Phil Alden Robinson. The beloved film earned three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture, while the title itself and the famous line, "If you build it...," became part of the cultural lexicon. Gordon subsequently produced "Family Business," directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick; the comedy hit "K-9," starring James Belushi; "The Rocketeer," directed by Joe Johnston; and "Lock Up," starring Sylvester Stallone. In 1989, Gordon formed Largo Entertainment with the backing of JVC Entertainment, Inc. of Japan, representing the first major Japanese investment in the entertainment industry. As the company's chairman and chief executive officer, Gordon was responsible for the production of such films as "Point Break," starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves; "Unlawful Entry," starring Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta and Madeleine Stowe; "Used People," starring Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Marcia Gay Harden and Marcello Mastroianni; and "Timecop," starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Largo also co-financed and handled the foreign distribution of the acclaimed biopic "Malcolm X," directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington in the title role. Gordon left Largo in 1994 in favor of a long-term producing deal with Universal Pictures. There, his first production was the controversial Kevin Costner-starrer "Waterworld," which grossed $300 million worldwide. Other Lawrence Gordon Productions include "The Devil's Own," starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt; the critically acclaimed "Boogie Nights," directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Heather Graham and Julianne Moore; and "Mystery Men," starring Ben Stiller. In 2001, Gordon produced two pictures that opened at number one at the box office: the summer hit "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," starring Angelina Jolie, and the acclaimed "K-PAX," starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges. In summer 2003, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" was released, with Angelina Jolie back as Lara Croft. The next year, Gordon produced the Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy," based on the popular Mike Mignola comic book series and starring Ron Perlman and Selma Blair. In summer 2008, he scored an even bigger hit with its sequel, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," reuniting the original cast and filmmakers. Gordon's "Watchmen" directed by Zack Snyder ("300") was released in March of 2009 as one of the highest R-rated openings ever. Gordon is producing a documentary for Netflix on the legendary basketball player Bill Russell. He is also executive producer on a television adaptation of "Field Of Dreams" for Peacock, and executive produced the "Predator" spinoff "Prey" on Hulu. Gordon served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the Board of the American Film Institute. He is a recipient of the ShoWest Lifetime Achievement Award, the PGA's prestigious David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award, Tulane University's Distinguished Alumni Award, and most recently the Mississippi Governor's Arts Award.- Producer
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Steve Tisch is an American film and television producer and sports employee that was born on February 14, 1949 on Lakewood Township, New Jersey.
After he attended Tuffs University, he was a producer for Columbia Pictures. He was production assistant on two 1971 movies Cry Uncle (1971) for Troma and Such Good Friends (1971) for Otto Preminger and Paramount. Although he was associate producer in the 1975 telemovie The Missing Are Deadly (1975), and a producer on the 1977 movie Outlaw Blues (1977), he met up with fellow producer Jon Avnet. Together he started Tisch/Avnet Productions, and eventually produced its first telemovie No Other Love (1979) in 1979. They eventually launched its divisions Tisch/Avnet Pictures, a motion picture division and Tisch/Avnet Television, a television division. They soon followed it up with Homeward Bound (1980). Afterwards, the duo struck a deal with Novacom, Inc. (later King Features Entertainment) to handle syndication of the telemovies.
Through Tisch/Avnet Pictures, the company produced Coast to Coast (1980) and Deal of the Century (1983), which bombed at the box office and Risky Business (1983), which was a box office success, which gave Tom Cruise his first leading role. For Tisch/Avnet Television, the company produced two telemovies for 1982, Prime Suspect (1982) and Something So Right (1982), the latter was a vehicle for former TV star Patty Duke, and in collaboration with writers and producers Shelley List and Jonathan Estrin.
In 1983, the Tisch/Avnet Pictures and Tisch/Avnet Television brands are phased out in favor of the Tisch/Avnet Productions name. Tisch and Avnet continues to produce telemovies like Calendar Girl Murders (1984), which was not a ratings hit, and The Burning Bed (1984), which gave Tisch and Avnet the biggest prolific and household names in television history, and it stared Farrah Fawcett, and spawned 11 Emmy nominations. Later that year, the duo produced another ratings success Silence of the Heart (1984), which gave Charlie Sheen his first acting role. Tisch and Avnet branched out into television series production by producing Call to Glory (1984), which was flopped by airing against competing shows, and fizzled out after one season. Tisch and Avnet would continue to produce two more television movies Triplecross (1986) and In Love and War (1987). Shortly afterwards, Tisch and Avnet broke up their partnership.
In 1985, Tisch launched his own company The Steve Tisch Company to produce feature films, starting with the 1986 film Soul Man (1986) for New World Pictures. Then the company branched out into television movies by producing Evil in Clear River (1988), Whisper Kill (1988) and Out on the Edge (1989), for Phoenix Entertainment Group, Judgment (1990) for HBO and Judgment (1990) for CBS. In 1989, Tisch, along with fellow producers Leonard Hill, Robert Greenwald, Frank von Zerneck, Robert M. Sertner, Michael Jaffe, Frank Konigsberg, Larry Sanitsky, Jon Avnet, Steve White and the film unit of cable company Spectacor launched Allied Communications Incl to syndicate television movies. During the company's run, he produced a few more theatrical movies like Big Business (1988), which was a success at the box office, Hot to Trot (1988), Heart of Dixie (1989), Heart Condition (1990) and Bad Influence (1990) underperformed and the television series Dirty Dancing (1988), which ran with poor ratings after one season.
Tisch was able to recover in the entertainment industry by producing one of the biggest achievements, Forrest Gump (1994), which was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Tom Hanks, which was a box office success, and won the most Academy Awards, including Best Picture, which gave Tisch the most successful producer in the entertainment industry. In 1994, he struck a production deal with New Line Cinema. During that time, Tisch also produced Corrina, Corrina (1994), Dear God (1996), Wild America (1997) and The Postman (1997) both of them met negative reviews, and they were bombed at the box office. The company also produced The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), which not only got negative reviews, but it was a minor hit at the box office. In 1998, he was executive producer on American History X (1998), despite the film flopped, it also got positive reception. In 1996, Tisch produced one more telemovie, The People Next Door (1996). As its company shifted its focus on theatrical movies, he produced Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), which was a box office success, and got positive reviews. It was a minority investor in Classic Media when the company started in 2000.
In 2001, Tisch merged his company with Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal's Black & Blu to form the production company Escape Artists. During that time the company produced A Knight's Tale (2001), and it was a box office hit. The next two features Alex & Emma (2003) and The Weather Man (2005) underperformed by the studios Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, respectively at the box office, both of them got mixed critical reception. The studio produced a long streak of blockbusters hits after that, starting with The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and continued with Seven Pounds (2008), both of them were directed by Gabriele Muccino and starred Will Smith, which Smith himself is also producing for his Overbrook Entertainment production company.
Tisch was named chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants American football team in 2005. Tisch accepted the Vince Lombardi Trophy twice, when the Giants won Super Bowl XLII and again when they won Super Bowl XLVI. On April 30, 2008, Tisch along with the rest of the Giants team and administration were invited by President Bush to the White House to honor the Giants Super Bowl victory. In 2007, Tisch received the P.T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for his exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment
His profiling success at the box office continued via the Escape Artists company, like Knowing (2009) for Summit Entertainment, The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) and Hope Springs (2012) for MGM/Sony/Columbia and The Back-up Plan (2010) for CBS Films. In 2014, Escape Artists and Columbia Pictures produced two films The Equalizer (2014), which spawned a film sequel The Equalizer 2 (2018) and Sex Tape (2014). During 2015 and 2016, Escape Artists produced two films directed by Antoine Fuqua for The Weinstein Company, and The Magnificent Seven (2016) for MGM/Sony/Columbia. His Escape Artists company later branched out into television production in 2019 with Perpetual Grace, LTD (2019) for Epix and Servant (2019). He branched out into documentary by producing Why We Hate (2019).
He was in post production on The Man from Toronto (2022) for Columbia Pictures.- Producer
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Walter F. Parkes was born on April 15, 1951 in Bakersfield, California. He attended Yale University and it was graduated cum laude in 1973. He made its first film project The California Reich (1975), which was made in 1975.
He met Laurie MacDonald in 1982 and the next year, wrote the script for the film WarGames (1983) with Lawrence Lasker, of which received a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. The success led to a deal with Paramount Pictures, with no films coming out. In 1985, he produced Volunteers (1985) with Richard Shepherd, and in 1987 reunited with Lasker on the film Project X (1987), of which Lasker become a full time partner for four years. Both of them continue its success with True Believer (1989), Awakenings (1990) and Sneakers (1992). Both of them tried to sign a deal with Columbia when its deal with Paramount ended. Both of them produced the TV show Eddie Dodd (1991) with Clyde Phillips.
In 1991, both Lasker and Parkes part ways, in order that Parkes to partner with MacDonald, who left Columbia in the establishment of a production company Aerial Pictures. Aerial had a two year deal at Columbia Pictures, and it was briefly transferred to 20th Century Fox in 1993. Aerial's only product was a little known TV show Birdland (1994) for ABC.
In 1993, both Parkes and MacDonald was approached by Steven Spielberg to run Amblin Entertainment, thus completely shuttering Aerial Pictures down. He oversaw production of Little Giants (1994), Twister (1996) and Men in Black (1997), the latter of which was originated at Aerial.
In 1994, Parkes and MacDonald was approached to start up the DreamWorks studio and served as co-heads of film production. He oversaw more than a few films during his tenure, serving his positions as producer or executive producer, like The Peacemaker (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Gladiator (2000), The Ring (2002) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).
In 2005, while Parkes and MacDonald completed production on a few DreamWorks films like The Island (2005) and Just Like Heaven (2005), the duo started up Parkes/MacDonald Productions with a deal at DreamWorks. At that time, Parkes and MacDonald produced these leftover projects originated by DreamWorks like The Lookout (2007) and The Kite Runner (2007) as well as Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), the Asian film remake The Uninvited (2009) and the comedy Dinner for Schmucks (2010).
In 2009, Parkes and MacDonald partnered with Image Nation, and in 2010, signed a television deal with NBCUniversal to produce its television shows. The duo's contributions were the two Men in Black installments: Men in Black³ (2012) and Men in Black: International (2019), the third installment in the "Ring" franchise, Rings (2017) and original projects like Flight (2012) and Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) as well as television shows like Crossbones (2014) and The Slap (2015).
In 2016, he was a founding partner and chairman in the virtual reality studio Dreamscape Immersive, with Kevin Wall, Caecila Charbonnier, Sylvian Chaugé and Ronald Menzel.
Both Parkes and MacDonald were currently working on future projects like "Gladiator 2" and "Barbie".- Producer
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Bruce Davey was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is known for Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Braveheart (1995) and The Passion of the Christ (2004).- Producer
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Charles K. Feldman was born on 26 April 1904 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Casino Royale (1967). He was married to Clotilde Barot and Jean Howard. He died on 25 May 1968 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Producer
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Lawrence Bender is a movie producer working in the entertainment industry for 20 years. He helped produce Hollywood films like Reservoir Dogs (1992), Good Will Hunting (1997), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django (2012). Lawrence won 6 Academy Awards with 29 nominations including 3 Best Picture films. An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary he produced that raised awareness of climate change and won him an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Lawrence Bender was born in The Bronx, New York City, as Lawrence Kirk Bender. His mother was a kindergarten teacher. Lawrence's father was a college history professor. In high school, he was inspired to follow his grandfather's career as a civil engineer. At the University of Maine in 1979, he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. After he graduated, he became a dancer for several years which ended after an injury. Lawrence is a political and environmental activist as the co-founder of the Detroit Project. In 2003 he worked with environmentalists in targeting gas-guzzling SUVs. As the Dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, he sits on the Advisory Board. Lawrence has used his influence to support philanthropic initiatives working with Yahoo, the Muppets, the EPA, and Wal-Mart. He is a Director for CleanSource Power, LLC and a board member of The Creative Coalition Inc.- Producer
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Tim Bevan was born on 20 December 1957 in Queenstown, New Zealand. He is a producer and actor, known for Les Misérables (2012), United 93 (2006) and Atonement (2007). He has been married to Amy Gadney since 2001. They have two children. He was previously married to Joely Richardson.- Producer
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Famed for his relentless ambition, bad temper and genius for publicity, Samuel Goldwyn became Hollywood's leading "independent" producer -- largely because none of his partners could tolerate him for long. Born Shmuel (or Schmuel) Gelbfisz, probably in 1879, in the Jewish section of Warsaw, he was the eldest of six children of a struggling used-furniture dealer. In 1895 he made his way to England, where relatives Anglicized his name to Samuel Goldfish. There he begged (or stole) enough money for a ticket in steerage across the Atlantic. He reached the US, probably via Canada, in 1898. He gravitated to Gloversville, New York, in the Adirondack foothills, which was then the capital of the US leather glove industry; he became one of the country's most successful glove salesmen. After moving his base of operations to Manhattan and marrying the sister of Jesse L. Lasky, who was then a theatrical producer, Goldfish convinced Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille to go into film production. The new company's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was one of the first features made in Hollywood; the company later became the nucleus of what would later become Paramount Pictures. As his marriage fell apart, Goldfish dissolved his partnership with Lasky. His next enterprise was the Goldwyn Co., founded in 1916 and named for himself and his partners, brothers Edgar Selwyn and Archibald Selwyn--Goldfish liked the name so much he took it for his own. The Goldwyn Co.'s stars included Mabel Normand, Madge Kennedy and Will Rogers, but its most famous legacy was its "Leo the Lion" trademark, which was adopted by its successor company, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Goldwyn himself was ousted from his own company before the merger, which was why his name became part of MGM even though he himself had nothing to do with the company. After his firing Goldwyn would have nothing to do with partners and went into independent production on his own, and for 35 years was the boss and sole proprietor of his own production company, a mini-studio specializing in expensive "quality" films, distributed initially by United Artists and later by RKO. His contract actors at various times included Vilma Bánky, Ronald Colman, Eddie Cantor, Gary Cooper, David Niven and Danny Kaye. In some cases, Goldwyn collected substantial fees for "lending" his stars to other producers. Touted by publicists for his "Goldwyn touch" and loathed by many of his hirelings for his habit of ordering films recast, rewritten and recut, Goldwyn is best remembered for his films that teamed director William Wyler and cinematographer Gregg Toland.- Producer
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Samuel Goldwyn Jr. was born on 7 September 1926 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) and Mystic Pizza (1988). He was married to Patricia Strawn, Peggy Elliott and Jennifer Howard. He died on 9 January 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.