Richard Donner (1930-2021)
Richard Donner, the man who directed such films as "The Omen", "Superman: The Movie", "The Goonies", "Scrooged", and the "Lethal Weapon" series, passed away on July 5th, 2021. He was 91 years old.
Donner initially wanted to become an actor as he sought to develop his career and gained a minor role in a television program. However, its director, Martin Ritt, encouraged Donner to be a director instead. And so Dick was hired by Ritt to be his assistant. Later, Donner began directing commercials while among the Desilu staff. He transitioned to television series in the late 1950s, starting with "Get Smart", "The Twilight Zone" (most notably, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" with William Shatner), "The Wild Wild West", "Perry Mason", "Kojak", and "Gilligan's Island". Donner also worked with the animation studio Hanna-Barbera in directing several episodes of the serial "Danger Island" as part of the kids' show "The Banana Splits".
Richard's first movie as the director in 1961 was the low-budget "X-15" starring Charles Bronson. He then directed a few British films such as "Salt and Pepper", "Twinky" (aka "Lola") and "Child Bride". Donner also broke in directing movies made for television, including "A Shadow in the Streets" and "Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic".
Using what experience learned from "The Twilight Zone", Donner made it through the forte of helming feature-length movies with the scary "The Omen". This runaway success resulted in his assignment to bring "Superman" to the big screen in 1978, which brought him worldwide recognition. The movie starred Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, alongside Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty, and set the template for future superhero movies. However, halfway through the film's sequel, "Superman II", in its near completion, a dispute with the producers causes Donner to get ejected and replaced by Richard Lester, though much of Donner's scenes remained intact, albeit uncredited. In 2006, Donner released his director's cut of "Superman II" on DVD, which came out the same day as Bryan Singer's franchise revival of "Superman Returns" debut on home video.
After his dismissal from "Superman II", Donner directed "Inside Moves", which is one of his smaller and personal films and didn't perform well at the box office despite fair notices and "The Toy", starring Richard Pryor. In 1985, he directed the period romantic fantasy "Ladyhawke" with Michele Pfieffer. The same year, Donner directed a seminal children's adventure movie for writer Chris Columbus and fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg, "The Goonies", a coming-of-age film about a group of kids looking for hidden treasure.
Following the mid-80s movies is the success of "Lethal Weapon", Donner reinvented the buddy cop subgenre with "Mad Max" star Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the lead roles. It led to three more entries, which Donner has also directed. Donner would later work with Gibson in films like "Maverick" and "Conspiracy Theory". Donner's other films include "Scrooged" with Bill Murray, "Radio Flyer", "Assassins", "Timeline" and "16 Blocks". The latter of which proved to be his last.
In addition to directing features, Donner was the executive producer in films such as "Omen III: The Final Conflict", "The Lost Boys", "Delirious", three movies of "Free Willy", and "Any Given Sunday". He was even involved in the "X-Men" movie franchise with his wife, Lauren Shuler, through their company, The Donners' Company, especially Bryan Singer's first entry (click here) and its prequel "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".
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