Biography for
John Milius More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

11 April 1944, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Birth Name

John Frederick Milius

Nickname

The Dog Trainer
Viking Man

Mini Biography

John Milius is a screenwriter and director who came to prominence in the 1970s, when he was associated with Francis Ford Coppola and the pre-Star Wars (1977) George Lucas. Born on April 11, 1944 in St. Louis, Missouri, Milius was one of the first movie industry professionals to be a film school graduate, having matriculated at the University of Southern California. In 1967, Milius won first prize at USC School of Cinema-for his student film Marcello, I'm Bored (1966).

A gun enthusiast, Milius serves as a member of the National Rifle Association's Board of Directors.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood

Spouse

Elan Oberon	(1992 - present)
Celia Kaye	(26 February 1978 - ?) (divorced)
Renee Fabri	(7 January 1967 - 20 January 1978) (divorced) 2 children

Trade Mark

Frequently casts Gerry Lopez.

Films often reflect his conservative political beliefs.

Trivia

Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television (1967).

Is an avid gun collector.

Wrote the line, "Go ahead, make my day," for Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" character in Sudden Impact (1983).

Wrote "U.S.S. Indianapolis" scene in Jaws (1975).

Member of the NRA Board of Directors from 1995-2001. He currently serves on the Public Affairs and Shotgun Committees.

Is a personal friend of the Coen brothers and was the inspiration for the character of Walter in the The Big Lebowski (1998).

Milius, an avid gun collector, insisted that part of his payment for writing Jeremiah Johnson (1972) be in antique weapons.

Through his work, on Rough Riders (1997) (TV), he was instrumental in causing President Theodore Roosevelt to be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for acts of conspicuous gallantry on San Juan Hill.

Is one of the original founders of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Was Sergio Leone's first choice to write Once Upon a Time in America (1984). But due to scheduling problems, and Leone's struggle to acquire the rights of Harry Grey's book The Hoods, Milius passed on the project.

Considers himself as a "zen anarchist".

Despite his political beliefs, he is an avid fan of director Spike Lee.

His favourites films are Howard Hawks' Red River (1948), Gillo Pontecorvo's La battaglia di Algeri (1966) (aka Battle of Algiers), Raoul Walsh's They Died with Their Boots On (1941), John Ford's The Searchers (1956) and They Were Expendable (1945), Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969), Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai (1954) (aka Seven Samurai), Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. (1950), Federico Fellini's La dolce vita (1960), John Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941).

Is a close friend of MMA legends Rorion Gracie and Rickson Gracie.

Was the inspiration for drag-racer John Milner (played by Paul Le Mat) in American Graffiti (1973).

Made an honorary member of the Sioux Nation, after his filming of The Rough Riders.

Turned down the role of Jack Lipnick in Barton Fink (1991).

Personal Quotes

[on being rejected for military service due to asthma]: "I'm a very efficient director - it's my training in military tactics. I've trained my whole life to be a general but I never could. So I became the next best thing, a movie director."

[on the violence in Conan the Barbarian being rather essential]: "It's not that violent, although I was happy not to get an X rating. But if you said 'Conan the Barbarian' was rated PG, people would feel cheated. We weren't making 'Conan's Divorce', you know."

I love the bomb. It's sort of a religious totem to me. Like the plague in the Middle Ages, it's the hand of God coming out indiscriminantly to snatch you.

"If there hadn't been an Arnold around for Conan, we would have had to create him". -Muscle & Fitness magazine, July 1982

I try to maintain a certain innocence toward my material. I like to say that I do what I do because I like it and that it's not preachy. When I try to put my finger on what I have to say, it's very vague. It's just an attitude. As Herman Melville put it in "Moby Dick": 'a free and easy desperado geniality.' That's my attitude. Melville was talking about men rowing into the mouth of a whale with their backs to it. I suppose that's what life is like.

I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other night, and I was horrified. I would have Rush Limbaugh drawn and quartered. He was sticking up for these Wall Street pigs. There should be public show trials, mass denunciations and executions.

[on Mexican drug traffickers] We need to go down there, kill them all, flatten the place with bulldozers so when you wake up in the morning, there's nothing there. I do believe if you have a military, you use it.

[on the "Do I feel lucky?" speech in Dirty Harry (1971)] I have a .44 Magnum, I love the .44 Magnum, in fact I still have the .44 Magnum that inspired that that line. The Second Amendment becomes more important every day.

I've led a whole life behind enemy lines. I've been the victim of so much persecution. I'm the barbarian of Hollywood.

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