Richard D. Zanuck

Richard D. Zanuck
Zanuck at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards, March 26, 1990
Born	Richard Darryl Zanuck December 13, 1934 (1934-12-13) Los Angeles, California
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Lili Gentle (1958–1968) Linda Harrison (1969–1978) Lili Fini Zanuck (1978–present)

Richard Darryl Zanuck (born December 13, 1934) is an American film producer. He is credited for producing famous movies of the 1970's, 80's, 90's and the 21 century.

Life and career

He was born in Los Angeles, California, to actress Virginia Fox and Darryl F. Zanuck, the famed head of 20th Century Fox. While studying at Stanford University, Richard began his career in the film industry working for the 20th Century Fox story department. In 1959, Zanuck got his first shot at producing with the film Compulsion. In the 1960s Zanuck became the president of 20th Century Fox; one year of his tenure, 1967, is chronicled in the John Gregory Dunne book The Studio. After disastrous failures like 1967's Doctor Dolittle, Richard was later fired by his father and joined Warner Bros. as Executive Vice President and one year later formed The Zanuck/Brown Company. In 1968 he married model and actress Linda Harrison; they later divorced in 1978.

In 1972, Zanuck joined up with David Brown to form an independent production company called The Zanuck/Brown Company at Universal Pictures. The pair produced two of Steven Spielberg's early films, The Sugarland Express (1974) and Jaws (1975). They went on to produce such box office hits as Cocoon (1985) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989) before dissolving their partnership in 1988. They were jointly awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1990. He has worked with Tim Burton six times, producing Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Dark Shadows (2012). He and Burton connected immediately, and Zanuck remains his producer of choice.

In 2000, Zanuck and his third wife Lili Fini Zanuck co-produced the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony.

Filmography

• Compulsion (1959)
• Sanctuary (1961)
• The Chapman Report (1962)
• The Sound of Music (1965)
• SSSSSSS (1973)
• Willie Dynamite (1974)
• The Sugarland Express (1974)
• The Black Windmill (1974)
• The Girl from Petrovka (1974)
• The Eiger Sanction (1975)
• Jaws (1975)
• MacArthur (1977)
• Jaws 2 (1978)
• The Island (1980)
• Neighbors (1981)
• The Verdict (1982)
• Cocoon (1985)
• Target (1985)
• Cocoon: The Return (1988)
• Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
• Rush (1991)
• Rich in Love (1993)
• Clean Slate (1994)
• Wild Bill (1995)
• Mulholland Falls (1996)
• Chain Reaction (1996)
• Deep Impact (1998)
• True Crime (1999)
• Rules of Engagement (2000)
• Planet of the Apes (2001)
• Reign of Fire (2002)
• Road to Perdition (2002)
• Big Fish (2003)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
• Yes Man (2008)
• WALL-E (2008)
• Alice in Wonderland (2010)
• Clash of the Titans (2010)
• Dark Shadows (2012)

Television

Year	Production	Notes
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Episode: "Barrington"
1992	Driving Miss Daisy	television film
2000	72nd Academy Awards
2004	Dead Lawyers	television film

External links

• Richard D. Zanuck at the Internet Movie Database
• The Zanucks: Reel Royalty