Posted on 07/13/2012 2:30:51 PM PDT by DFG
Richard D. Zanuck, the producer of "Jaws" and "Driving Miss Daisy," died Friday in Los Angeles, a spokesperson for his production company told TheWrap. He was 77.
The cause of death was a heart attack.
The son of famed 20th Century Fox head Daryl F. Zanuck, he would make his own indelible mark on the movie business by championing a then unknown director named Steven Spielberg.
Together their adaptation of Peter Benchley's pulpy novel about a killer shark terrorizing a beach town would usher in a new era of summer blockbusters and fundamentally alter the type of movies that the industry makes. The impact of "Jaws," which at the time was the highest grossing movie of all time, can still be felt in recent tentpole hits like "The Avengers" and "Avatar," cinematic spectacles that entice audiences through a combination of special effects and easily digestible plots.
(Excerpt) Read more at movies.yahoo.com ...
R.I.P.
Yes JAWS was highly gross, for its time.
He did okay for a kid who was, very publicly, fired by his father. Cool dresser, too.
ping
I always thought he was pretty cool in interviews, not what you expect from a Studio Guy named Zanuck.
I remember that around 2001 there were a lot of "lists" of various things from the 20th century. One was the American Film Institute running lists of "best" movies in the various genres. In Horror, Jaws came in number one.
Only two films scared the hell out of me for days after having seen them in the cinema. The Exorcist and Jaws. The Ring would rank up there pretty high as well.
RIP.
Never seen those cinematic masterpieces (aka ‘entertainment vehicles’) on the scale of the Sistine Chapel and never will!
That’s because Cinema is a mixture of various Arts and therefore a dilution of them. It’s questionable if even the best films are the equal of the best music, the best literature...
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