Richard Donner

Known for DirectingBorn 1930-04-24Died 2021-07-05Bronx, New York, USA

Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the most financially successful films of the 1970s and 1980s. His career spanning more than six decades crossed genres and influenced trends among filmmakers across the world. Donner began his career in 1957 as a television director. In the 1960s, he directed episodes of the series The Rifleman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, The Banana Splits, and many others. Donner made his film debut with the low-budget aviation drama X-15 in 1961, but had his critical and commercial breakthrough with the horror film The Omen in 1976. He directed the landmark superhero film Superman in 1978, which provided an inspiration for the fantasy film genre to eventually gain artistic respectability and commercial dominance. Donner later went on to direct films in the 1980s such as The Goonies and Scrooged, while reinvigorating the buddy cop film genre with the Lethal Weapon series. Donner and his wife, Lauren, owned a production company, The Donners' Company, which is most successful for producing the Free Willy and X-Men film franchises. Donner also produced Tales from the Crypt and co-wrote several comic books for Superman publisher DC Comics. In 2000, Donner received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Donner, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.Read more

Movies & web series

Mel Gibson's Unauthorized Video Diary

Senior Year

Nightside

Sons and Daughters

Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

E! True Hollywood Story

Making of a Cult Classic: The Unauthorized Story of 'The Goonies'

The Twilight Zone

The Ultimate Stuntman: A Tribute to Dar Robinson

Tales from the Crypt

Banyon

Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman

Superpowered: The DC Story

Taking Flight: The Development of 'Superman'

Get Smart

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

Combat!

The Goonies

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

Cursed Films

Perry Mason

The Wild Wild West

Making 'Superman': Filming the Legend

Sarge

Lethal Weapon

Ghost Story

The Omen

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

Gilligan's Island

Close Encounters with Vilmos Zsigmond

X-Men

The Omen Legacy

Jericho

Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film

Superman

Casting By

The Lost Boys

Mr. Novak

Petrocelli

Film Music Masters: Jerry Goldsmith

Lethal Weapon 2

Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics

The Fugitive

Radio Flyer

Kojak

First Works

Have Gun, Will Travel