From 1974 to 1991, partnered with producer David Foster in the Turman Foster Co. production company.
Inductee in the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame.
Before working in show biz, he served two years in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted man, then went to work for his father in the textile business.
He served as the director of The Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California.
Turman was nominated for an Academy Award for The Graduate (1967).
Turman published the book So You Want to be a Producer with Three Rivers Press in 2005.
In 2014, he appeared as a guest critic on the fourth season of the web series On Cinema.
Turman was a member of the Producers Guild Hall of Fame, and was on the board of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.