Richard DonnerBirth Place: New York, New York, USA Date of Birth: April 24, 1930 Heritage: American Contact Richard Donner | 
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Lethal Weapon Background: American director and producer Richard Donner is best known for his work on the popular “Lethal Weapon” movie series. A former actor turned assistant to director Martin Ritt, Donner began his directing career in Los Angeles in the late 1950s by directing commercials, business films and documentaries before moving to television in 1960 by helming episodes of the series “Wanted: Dead or Alive.” He ventured into feature films in 1961 with the Charles Bronson vehicle “X-15.” The former New York University student achieved his first major commercial success as the director of “The Omen” (1976), but it was “Superman” (1978) that gave Donner worldwide exposure. Donner also directed and/or produced “Ladyhawke” (1985), “The Goonies” (1985), “Maverick” (1994), “Conspiracy Theory” (1997), “Timeline” (2003) and “16 Blocks” (2006). He produced the family hit “Free Willy” (1993) and its sequels, three film spin-offs of the HBO “Crypt” series, “X-Men” (2000) and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009) and served as the executive producer for the HBO series “Tales from the Crypt” (1989-1996). Donner has received several awards for his contribution to the entertainment industry. In 2000, he was honored with the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award by the Hollywood Film Festival and President's Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Two years later, he received the Joseph L. Mankiewicz Excellence in Filmmaking Award from the Director's View Film Festival. He also won the Nicola Tesla Award at the 2006 Satellite Awards, the Career Achievement Award at the 2007 Casting Society of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Ojai Film Festival. He was handed the Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award at the 2009 American Cinema Editors event.
Childhood and Family: Richard Donner was born Richard Donald Schwartzberg on April 24, 1930, in New York City, New York, to Fred and Hattie Schwartzberg. He was raised in Mount Vernon, New York, with his sister Joan. Growing up, young Richard became a fan of movies. It was his grandfather, who owned a movie theatre, which first introduced him to films. After attending Parker Junior College, he majored in business and theater at New York University. Richard Donner married Lauren Shuler Donner (born on June 23, 1949, a producer) in 1985. The couple co-owns the production company The Donners' Company.
Career: Richard Donner, who once worked as a truck driver and lab assistant, began his career as an actor. In 1950, he worked with director Martin Ritt on the TV production of “W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage,” a gig that led to Donner being hired as Ritt's assistant. He made his TV debut as a writer with the anthology series “Men of Annapolis” (1957). With the hope of pursuing a career as a director, Donner made the move to Los Angeles in 1958 and worked on commercials, documentaries and industrial films. He made his television directorial debut in the early 1960s with the star Steve McQueen western series “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” on which he helmed the episodes “The Twain Shall Meet” and “The Medicine Man” (both 1960), “The Last Retreat,” “Bounty on Josh,” “The Voice of Silence” and “Barney's Bounty” (all 1961). After directing episodes of the TV series “Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater” (1 episode 1960), “Letter to Loretta” (5 episodes, 1961) and “Route 66” (1 episode, 1961), Donner moved to the big screen by helming Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore in the 1961 drama “X-15.” Throughout the 1960s, Donner directed episodes of television series, including “The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor” (1 episode, 1962), “The Rifleman” (7 episodes, 1962), “Have Gun - Will Travel” (3 episodes, 1961-1962), “Sam Benedict” (6 episodes, 1962-1963), “The Eleventh Hour” (2 episodes, 1963), “The Lieutenant” (2 episodes, 1963-1964), “The Twilight Zone” (6 episodes, 1963-1964), “Mr. Novak” (7 episodes, 1963-1964), “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (4 episodes, 1964), “Gilligan's Island” (3 episodes, 1964-1965), “Perry Mason” (3 episodes, 1964-1965), “12 O'Clock High” (4 episodes, 1965), “Get Smart” (2 episodes, 1965), “The Fugitive” (2 episodes, 1966), “The Wild Wild West” (3 episodes, 1966), “Felony Squad” (3 episodes, 1966) and “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” (3 episodes, 1968-1970). He also directed the TV series pilot “Philbert (Three's a Crowd)” (1963) and made a brief return to feature film in 1968 with “Salt and Pepper,” a comedy starring Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. Entering the 1970s, Donner worked with screenwriter Norman Thaddeus Vane on the film “Twinky” (1970), which starred Bronson and Susan George. He followed it up with extensive work on episodes of TV series such as “Sarge” (2 episodes, 1971), “Bearcats” (2 episodes, 1971), “Cade's County” (3 episodes, 1971-1972), “Cannon” (4 episodes, 1971-1973), “The Six Million Dollar Man” (with other directors, 1974), “The Streets of San Francisco” (2 episodes, 1974), “Kojak” (3 episodes, 1973-1974), “Petrocelli” (2 episodes, 1974) and “Bronk” (1975). In 1975, Donner made his producing debut on the TV film “A Shadow in the Streets” (NBC), which he also directed. It was in 1976 that Donner's career gained momentum when he directed “The Omen,” which was written by David Seltzer. Costing $2.8 million to produce, the horror movie was a box office hit and grossed over $60 million. “The Omen” starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Patrick Troughton, Billie Whitelaw, Harvey Stephens, Leo McKern and Martin Benson. Donner enjoyed commercial success again with the blockbuster hit “Superman” (1978), which starred Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando and Gene Heckman. The film earned $300.22 million at the box office against a $55 million budget. A worldwide hit, the film launched Donner and Reeve to international prominence. Donner was nominated for a Saturn for Best Director for his effort on the film. Donner returned to the director's chair for the drama film “Inside Moves” (1980). Scripted by Barry Levinson, the movie starred John Savage, David Morse and Diana Scarwid. Two years later, he directed Richard Pryor, Jackie Gleason, Ned Beatty, Scott Schwartz, Teresa Ganzel and Virginia Capers in the comedy film “The Toy,” which was adapted from the 1976 French film “Le Jouet.” The film received negative reviews from critics, but had better luck with viewers. Collecting approximately $47 million at the box office, it became the 14th highest grossing movies of 1982. In between the films, Donner served as executive producer on “Omen III: The Final Conflict” (1981), which was directed by Graham Baker. In 1985, Donner directed and produced “Ladyhawke,” a fantasy film starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer and John Wood. “Ladyhawke” marked Donner's first producing partnership with his soon-to-be wife Lauren Shuler. Later that same year, Donner directed and produced the adventure film “The Goonies” (1985), which was written by Chris Columbus and based on a story by Steven Spielberg. Distributed by Warner Bros., the movie became one of the top 10 highest grossing films of that year. “The Goonies” starred Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton and Donner made a cameo appearance in the movie. Donner again earned the spotlight when he directed and produced the blockbuster hit movie “Lethal Weapon,” which starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Released on March 6, 1987, the film stayed at No. 1 at the box office for three weeks and grossed more than $120 million worldwide against a $15 million budget. After serving as an executive producer for “The Lost Boys” (1987), Donner directed Bill Murray and Karen Allen in the comedy “Scrooged (1988), an adaptation of Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol.” The film, which he also produced, earned mixed reviews from critics. Donner closed out the decade by reprising his producing and directing duty for “Lethal Weapon 2” (1989), which again starred Gibson and Glover. The film went on to become the third highest grossing movies of that year and earned generally favorable reviews from critics. Still in 1989, Donner took on the duty of executive producer for the horror anthology TV series “Tales From the Crypt,” which ran on HBO from 1989 to 1996. He also directed three episodes and made brief appearances in two episodes. Following executive producing gigs on the film “Delirious” (1991, directed by Tom Mankiewicz and starring John Candy) and the made for TV film “Two-Fisted Tales” (1992), Donner directed Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Lorraine Bracco, John Heard and Tom Hanks in the film “Radio Flyer” (1992), in which he replaced screenwriter and first time director David Mickey Evans. Later that same year, he worked on “Lethal Weapon 3” (1992), which was another box office success for the director/producer. The film grossed $145 million against its $35 million production cost. Despite financial success, the film received mixed reviews. In 1993, Donner experienced another strong box office success with the family film “Free Willy,” which he executive produced. In 1994, Donner produced and directed the western comedy film “Maverick,” based on the Roy Huggins 1950s television series of the same name. The summer smash movie grossed over $101 million in the U.S. and over $183 million worldwide. The cast of the film included “Lethal Weapon” star Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner. He reprised the same directing and producing duty for the Sylvester Stallone action vehicle “Assassins” (1995), the thriller “Conspiracy Theory” (1997), which starred Gibson and Julia Roberts, and “Lethal Weapon 4” (1998). Donner also lent his producing talents to “Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight” (1995) and “Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood” (1996), the sequels “Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home” (1995) and “Free Willy 3: The Rescue” (1997), “Double Tap” (1997), “Made Men” (1999) and “Any Given Sunday” (1999). He also served as executive producer on the short lived TV series “Perversions of Science,” a spin-off of “Tales from the Crypt.” In the new millennium, Donner served as the executive producer for the 2000 superhero movie “X-Men,” based on the fictional Marvel Comics characters of the same name that was directed by Bryan Singer. The film earned primarily positive reviews and was a huge success at the box office. He then produced “Ritual” (2001), the third film spin-off from the HBO series “Tales from the Crypt,” and “Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher” (2002, TV) before returning to the director's chair for “Timeline” (2003), which he also produced. The movie was not a success. After the failure of “Timeline,” Donner disappeared from the public eye until 2006's “16 Blocks,” an action movie starring Bruce Willis, Mos Def and David Morse. The $55 million movie opened at No. 2 at the box office and earned a worldwide gross of more than $117 million. 2006 also saw the release of “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut,” a re-edited version of the 1980 superhero film “Superman II.” More recently, in 2009, Donner served as the executive producer of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the forth installment in the “X-Men” film series. The film starred Huge Jackman as Wolverine.
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