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{{Infobox person
| name = Richard Donner
| image = Richard-Donner.png
| caption = Donner at the 2006 [[San Diego Comic-Con]]
| image_size =
| birth_name = Richard Donald Schwartzberg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1930|4|24}}
| birth_place = [[The Bronx, New York]], United States
| occupation = Director, Producer
| years_active = 1957–present
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Lauren Shuler Donner|Lauren Shuler]]|1985}}
}}

'''Richard Donner''' (born '''Richard Donald Schwartzberg'''; April 24, 1930) is an American film director and producer. After directing the horror film ''[[The Omen]]'' (1976), Donner became famous for directing the first modern [[superhero film]], ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'' (1978), starring [[Christopher Reeve]].

Donner later went on to direct such films such as ''[[The Goonies]]'' (1985) and ''[[Scrooged]]'' (1988), while reinvigorating the [[buddy film]] genre with ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' (1987) and [[Lethal Weapon (film series)|its sequels]]. He and his wife, producer [[Lauren Shuler Donner]], own the production company The Donner's Company, which is most well known for producing the [[X-Men (film series)|''X-Men'' film series]]. In 2000, he received the President's Award from the [[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films]]. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner is "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters".<ref name=Barson/>

==Early years==
Donner was born '''Richard Donald Schwartzberg''' in [[the Bronx]], to [[American Jews|Jewish]] parents,<ref>[http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/03/mel-gibson-201103 Vanity Fair: "The Rude Warrior" by Peter Biskind] March 2011</ref> Hattie and Fred Schwartzberg.<ref name=Variety>[http://variety.com/1997/film/news/vet-helmer-s-long-and-boffo-road-1116675634/ Variety Magazine: "Vet helmer’s long and boffo road" by Beverly Walker] July 31, 1997</ref> His father owned a small furniture manufacturing business.<ref name=Variety /> He has a sister, Joan.<ref name=Variety /> Donner started his career with hopes of acting but quickly moved into directing commercials and making business films.

==Television==
He moved into television in the late 1950s, directing some episodes of the [[Steve McQueen (actor)|Steve McQueen]] western serial ''[[Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV series)|Wanted: Dead or Alive]]'' and the [[Chuck Connors]] western ''[[The Rifleman]]''.<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|1149}}</ref> In his early career as a director he worked on TV commercials and over twenty-five television series including '' [[Have Gun Will Travel]]'', ''[[The Fugitive (TV series)|The Fugitive]]'', ''[[Combat!]]'', ''[[Get Smart]]'', ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'', ''[[The Wild Wild West]]'', ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'', ''[[Kojak]]'', ''[[Tales from the Crypt (TV series)|Tales from the Crypt]]'' and ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' (most notably the famous "[[Nightmare at 20,000 Feet]]" starring [[William Shatner]] and "[[From Agnes—With Love]]" starring [[Wally Cox]]), as well as the serial ''[[Danger Island (TV series)|Danger Island]]'' from the children's program ''[[The Banana Splits]]''.<ref name="imdb"/>

==Films==
Donner directed his first feature film in 1961, ''[[X-15 (film)|X-15]]'', which starred [[Charles Bronson]] and [[Mary Tyler Moore]]. It was not until seven years later, however, that he directed his next film, ''[[Salt and Pepper (film)|Salt and Pepper]]'' (1968), with [[Sammy Davis Jr.]], and [[Peter Lawford]]. His break-through film was ''[[The Omen]]'' (1976).<ref name="imdb"/> A supernatural thriller made in the wake of the success obtained by ''The Exorcist'', the film stars [[Gregory Peck]], [[David Warner (actor)|David Warner]] and [[Lee Remick]]. It became the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1976.

===''Superman'' (1978)===
In 1978, Donner directed ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman: The Movie]]'', starring [[Christopher Reeve]] in the [[Superman|title role]]. The film became a hit worldwide, projecting both Reeve and Donner to international fame.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.empireonline.com/features/making-of-superman|title=From The Archive: The Making Of Superman|date=January 2013|work=Empire Magazine|accessdate=January 31, 2013 }}</ref>
Co-stars included [[Margot Kidder]] as [[Lois Lane]], [[Marlon Brando]] as [[Jor-El]] and [[Gene Hackman]] as archvillain [[Lex Luthor]]. It succeeded at the box office, grossing $134 million domestically.<ref name=Barson>Barson, Michael. ''Who's Who of Hollywood Directors'', Noonday Press (1995)</ref>

Principal photography of ''Superman'' included filming of its first sequel, ''[[Superman II]]''. Donner filmed most of ''Superman II'' with the expectation he would complete the sequel after the release of ''Superman''. Despite the first film's success, Donner was fired from ''Superman II''. Throughout the filming of ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'', Donner had a difficult relationship with executive producers [[Alexander Salkind]] and [[Ilya Salkind]] and producer [[Pierre Spengler]]. The Salkinds refused Donner's demand that Spengler be fired; instead, the Salkinds replaced Donner as director of ''Superman II'' with [[Richard Lester]], who had worked with the Salkinds on [[The Three Musketeers (1973 film)|''The Three Musketeers'']] and [[The Four Musketeers (film)|''The Four Musketeers'']] and as an uncredited producer on ''Superman''. Following Donner's dismissal, Marlon Brando's scenes were removed from ''Superman II'' and much of the film was re-shot under Lester's direction. Gene Hackman refused to return for re-shoots; consequently, all the Lex Luthor scenes that appear in ''Superman II'' were filmed by Donner, although Donner received no onscreen credit for directing.

Rotten Tomatoes' summary states that "Superman II meets, if not exceeds, the standard set by its predecessor". Donner continued to promote the view his contribution was superior to rest of the series. ''[[Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut]]'' was released on November 28, 2006, on the same date as the DVD release of the summer film, ''[[Superman Returns]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} This version of the film features the re-insertion of Marlon Brando's scenes as Jor-El, and relies on a minimum of footage shot by Richard Lester.

===Post-''Superman'' career===
Donner has mixed commercial flops (''[[The Toy (1982 film)|The Toy]]'', ''[[Inside Moves]]'', ''[[Radio Flyer (film)|Radio Flyer]]'') and successes (''[[The Goonies]]'', the ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' series, ''[[Scrooged]]'' and ''[[Ladyhawke (film)|Ladyhawke]]''). In the case of ''Superman'', it was Donner who insisted the subject of the comic book [[superhero]] should be treated "straight" rather than "[[Camp (style)|camp]]", an approach that strongly influenced later genre directors such as [[Tim Burton]] (''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'', ''[[Batman Returns]]''), [[Bryan Singer]] (''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'', ''[[X2 (film)|X2]]'', ''[[X-Men: Days of Future Past]]''), and [[Christopher Nolan]] (''[[Batman Begins]]'', ''[[The Dark Knight (film)|The Dark Knight]]'', ''[[The Dark Knight Rises]]''), who have made successful superhero films of their own. The influence of ''Superman'' can, to this day, be seen in superhero films outside the Superman storyline, and even outside the DC Comics universe. Sam Raimi's ''[[Spider-Man (2002 film)|Spider-Man]]'' film is debatably one of the strongest examples of that influence. In the early 1980s, Donner proposed to Warner Bros. a non-camp film version of ''[[Batman]]'', to star [[Mel Gibson]].

===''Lethal Weapon'' (1987–1998)===
Donner's next blockbuster film was ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'', written by [[Shane Black]]. It starred [[Mel Gibson]] as a widowed narcotics detective with a suicidal bent "who breaks every rule for the sheer joy of it." It co-starred [[Danny Glover]] as a calm homicide detective with a loving family and consideration for retirement. The film's action sequences were considered "truly spectacular" and made the film one of the year's biggest hits.<ref name=Barson/>

Donner directed six films starring [[Mel Gibson]] overall, creating a ''Lethal Weapon'' franchise with 3 sequels, the last one being ''Lethal Weapon 4'', released in 1998. In an interview in 2000, Gibson described his impressions of Donner:<blockquote>"Uncle Dick. He’s a great guy, just terrific. Extremely professional. He’s an old veteran and has an understanding of film that is the culmination of years of experience. He’s got his technical stuff down, his vision down. No matter what you say about Dick, it underrates him. He really loves what he’s doing, loves working with actors, and he allows you freedom to explore all kinds of areas. 'All right, kid,' he’ll say, and slap you on the back and let you try something, because even he doesn’t know sometimes. He’s just an extremely charming, talented, great f...in’ guy. I love him."<ref>{{cite news | title = The Tao of Mel | first = Alex | last = Simon | publisher = Venice Magazine |date=December 2000}}</ref></blockquote>

Richard Donner's cousin is actor [[Steve Kahan]], who played a policeman tracking Otis in ''Superman: The Movie'', and played Captain Ed Murphy in the ''Lethal Weapon'' movie franchise. Donner has cast Kahan in some of his other films too.

===''X-Men''===
He became the executive producer for the 2000 [[Marvel Comics]] film ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'', then also an executive producer for the 2009 ''X-Men'' prequel, ''[[X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]'' and producer on ''[[X-Men: Days of Future Past]]''. In addition, Donner's wife has produced all of the films in the [[X-Men (film series)|''X-Men'' film series]] under their Donners' Company brand.

==Comic books==
One of Donner's assistants in the late 1990s was comic book writer [[Geoff Johns]]. In October 2006, Donner, Johns and artist [[Adam Kubert]] became the new creative team on ''[[Action Comics]]'', the publisher's most time honored publication and one of [[DC Comics]]' two main [[Superman]] titles. Together, Johns and Donner collaborated on the stories ''Last Son'' and ''Escape from Bizarro World'', both of which have been released in collected book form.

==Book release==
On November 10, 2010, Donner's authorized biography ''You're the Director... You Figure It Out: The Life and Films of Richard Donner'' by James Christie was published by BearManor Media.<ref>{{cite web|title=You're the Director... – Amazon|url=http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Director-You-figure-Richard-Donner/dp/1593935277/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285456032&sr=1-7|publisher=[[Amazon.com]]|accessdate=June 4, 2013}}</ref> The book features a foreword by actor [[Mel Gibson]].

''Script Magazine'' described the book as an "engaging portrait of a warm-hearted (if occasionally gruff) man who can justly be considered the modern equivalent of Victor Fleming and [[Michael Curtiz]] – a highly talented, professional director of motion pictures who has thrived in the studio system and made some pretty good pictures to boot."<ref>{{cite web|last=Morton|first=Ray|title=Meet the Reader: Bookshelf|url=http://www.scriptmag.com/features/meet-the-reader-bookshelf|publisher=Script Magazine|accessdate=June 4, 2013|date=October 7, 2011}}</ref>

The [[Directors Guild of America]] called the book "a compelling study of an ebullient, ballsy risk-taker who was a director even before he was aware of it" that "ably captures Donner's joy in doing a job he loves."<ref>{{cite web|last=Christie|first=James|title=You're the Director...You Figure It Out: The Life and Films of Richard Donner – Review|url=http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1203-Summer-2012/Books-Youre-the-Director.aspx|publisher=[[Directors Guild of America]]|accessdate=June 4, 2013|year=2012}}</ref>

==Filmography==
*''[[X-15 (film)|X-15]]'' (1961)
*''[[Salt and Pepper (film)|Salt and Pepper]]'' (1968)
*''[[Lola (1969 film)|Twinky]]'' (1969) (released as ''[[Lola (1969 film)|Lola]]'' in U.S.)
*''[[The Omen]]'' (1976)
*''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'' (1978)
*''[[Superman II]]'' (1980) (uncredited, with [[Richard Lester]])
*''[[Inside Moves]]'' (1980)
*''[[The Toy (1982 film)|The Toy]]'' (1982)
*''[[The Goonies]]'' (1985)
*''[[Ladyhawke (film)|Ladyhawke]]'' (1985)
*''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' (1987)
*''[[Scrooged]]'' (1988)
*''[[Lethal Weapon 2]]'' (1989)
*''[[Two-Fisted Tales (film)|Two-Fisted Tales]]'' (1992) (Segment: "Showdown")
*''[[Radio Flyer (film)|Radio Flyer]]'' (1992)
*''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]'' (1992)
*''[[Maverick (film)|Maverick]]'' (1994)
*''[[Assassins (film)|Assassins]]'' (1995)
*''[[Conspiracy Theory (film)|Conspiracy Theory]]'' (1997)
*''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]'' (1998)
*''[[Timeline (film)|Timeline]]'' (2003)
*''[[16 Blocks]]'' (2006)
*''[[Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut]]'' (2006)

==Bibliography==
*''[[Action Comics]]'' (co-writer with [[Geoff Johns]])
*''Last Son and Escape from Bizarro World'' (2009)
*''You're the Director... You Figure It Out: The Life and Films of Richard Donner'' (2010)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{IMDb name|1149}}
*[http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/richard-donner Archive of American Television interview, 2006]

{{s-start}}
{{s-lit|[[List of Superman films|''Superman'' film]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lee Sholem]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Director | years=[[Superman (1978 film)|1978]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Richard Lester]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Richard Donner}}
{{MTV Movie Award for Best Action Sequence}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donner, Richard}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:American film producers]]
[[Category:American Jews]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:Film directors from New York City]]
[[Category:People from the Bronx]]

Richard Donner - Revision history

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