Lawrence Gordon(I)

Spanning over six decades, Lawrence Gordon has maintained a career as one of the entertainment industry's most prolific and successful producers and studio executives. Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, Mr. Gordon graduated from Tulane University. Upon moving to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, he went to work as executive assistant to the legendary producer Aaron Spelling at Four Star Television and soon became a writer and associate producer of several Spelling shows. He followed with a stint as head of West Coast talent development for ABC Television, and later as an executive with Bob Banner Associates. In 1968, he joined Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson at American International Pictures (AIP) as Story Editor and rose to Vice President in charge of development. He then segued to Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures as Executive Vice President, where he helped put together the classic television movie "Brian's Song," as well as the first "novel for television," the adaptation of Leon Uris' #1 best seller "QB VII." Accepting an offer to become the company's first Executive in charge of Worldwide Production, Mr. Gordon returned to AIP. His many projects included the iconic Pam Grier starrers "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown;" John Milius' first directing assignment, "Dillinger," for which he also served as Executive Producer; and Ralph Bakshi's groundbreaking animated hit "Heavy Traffic," which was among The New York Times' top ten films of 1973. In addition, he also considers himself lucky to have collaborated with the legendary Roger Corman on several films. Mr. Gordon left AIP to form his own production company, Lawrence Gordon Productions and began by giving famed screenwriter Walter Hill his first directing job on 1975's "Hard Times," starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Other films that followed in this decade were "Rolling Thunder," starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones; the comedy hit "The End," starring Burt Reynolds; "The Driver," starring Ryan O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani; and another collaboration with Reynolds for the box-office smash "Hooper." Cult favorite "The Warriors" rounded out the '70s, inspiring an underground following that resulted in a Rockstar Studios video game and more recently a Lin-Manuel Miranda concept album for a Broadway musical adaptation. The 1980s began with another cult favorite, Olivia Newton-John starrer "Xanadu," which also featured the legendary Gene Kelly.

In 1982, he reunited with his old boss Aaron Spelling to create and executive produce the long-running ABC television series "Matt Houston." The same year saw Mr. Gordon, from his original idea, launch the "buddy movie" genre, teaming Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in his first movie role, "48 Hrs.," directed by Walter Hill. The film spawned not only a sequel, "Another 48 Hrs.," but also a never-ending trend of pairing opposites that continues to be a staple of filmmaking today. Up next he produced "Streets of Fire," starring Diane Lane and Willem Dafoe, and the comedy "Brewster's Millions" starring Richard Pryor and John Candy. In 1984, Mr. Gordon became President and Chief Operating Officer of Twentieth Century Fox. During his tenure, he started the studio's long running relationship with James Cameron, bringing him in to direct 1986's hit sequel "Aliens." Cameron's relationship with Fox eventually resulted in the global phenomena "Titanic" and the still-ongoing "Avatar" franchise. Mr. Gordon was also instrumental in coaxing James L. Brooks to Fox, where Mr. Brooks wrote and directed "Broadcast News," produced "The War of the Roses" and executive produced Tom Hanks' breakout "Big." Most importantly for the studio, Mr. Brooks co-created and executive produces the longest-running primetime television series of all time, "The Simpsons." In 1986, Mr. Gordon produced the critically acclaimed "Lucas," which marked the film debut of Winona Ryder, was a breakout role for teen idol Corey Haim, and also starred Charlie Sheen. In that same year, he gave Penny Marshall her first directing job, "Jumpin' Jack Flash," starring Whoopi Goldberg. He has also produced for the stage. On Broadway, he produced the musical "Smile" in 1986, with music by Tony, Grammy and Academy Award winner Marvin Hamlisch and book and lyrics by Tony and Academy Award winner Howard Ashman. Off-Broadway, he was awarded the prestigious Drama Desk Award for the revival of Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloane." In 1987, he produced the summer hit "Predator," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and later, its sequel. The ongoing franchise continues to churn out hit films for which he serves as Executive Producer, including 2022's Emmy-nominated "Prey" directed by Dan Trachtenberg, and 2025's "Badlands" starring Elle Fanning. In 1988, he produced the summer blockbuster "Die Hard," which introduced Bruce Willis as an action lead. It was followed by the sequel, "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" in 1990, and launched one of cinema's most successful and imitated franchises. In 1989, together with his brother Charles Gordon, he produced "Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner, Burt Lancaster, and James Earl Jones, and written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson. The Universal release received several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. The title, Field of Dreams, has become part of the American vernacular, as has the phrase, "If you build it, he will come..." Subsequently, he produced "Family Business," directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick; the comedy hit "K-9," starring Jim Belushi and Ed O'Neill; "The Rocketeer," directed by Joe Johnston, for the Walt Disney Company; and "Lock Up," starring Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland. In 1989, Mr. Gordon formed Largo Entertainment with the backing of JVC of Japan, representing the first major Japanese investment in the movie business, which was followed by Sony acquiring Columbia Pictures and Matsushita buying Universal. As the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, he was responsible for the production of "Point Break," directed by Oscar winner Kathyrn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze; "Unlawful Entry," starring Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta and Madeleine Stowe; "Used People," starring Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Marcia Gay Harden, and Marcello Mastroianni; and "TimeCop," starring Jean- Claude Van Damme. Largo also co-financed and handled the foreign distribution of the acclaimed "Malcolm X," directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington. In 1994, he left Largo in favor of a long-term producing deal with Universal Pictures. At Universal, his first production was the controversial and much-maligned Kevin Costner starrer "Waterworld," which in actuality grossed over $300 million worldwide and continues to return a profit for the studio. In addition to the film, the live Waterworld show, based on the film, has run continuously for 30 years at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. It has also expanded to Universal's theme parks in Singapore, Osaka, Japan, and Beijing, China. Among other Lawrence Gordon Productions are "The Devil's Own," starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt and directed by Alan Pakula; the sci-fi thriller "Event Horizon," starring Laurence Fishburn and Sam Neill; and "Mystery Men," starring Ben Stiller and Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush. In 2001, he produced "K-PAX," starring Oscar winners Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey. Another Lawrence Gordon Production was the critically-acclaimed "Boogie Nights," directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Burt Reynolds. Next was the summer hit "Tomb Raider," starring Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie in the first big-budget action film with a female lead. In the summer of 2003, "Tomb Raider II" was released, with Angelina Jolie reprising her role as adventurer Lara Croft. In 2004, he produced "Hellboy," and in 2008, its sequel "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," both directed by Guillermo del Toro. The next year he produced the Zack Snyder-directed adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' monumental graphic novel "Watchmen." More recently, he Executive Produced the well-received documentary "Bill Russell: Legend" chronicling the life of the basketball pioneer and trailblazer for Netflix. In 2016 Mr. Gordon received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Tulane University. He is also a recipient of the ShoWest Lifetime Achievement Award. The Producers Guild of America awarded him its top honor, the prestigious David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Gordon has served on the Board of Directors of the Producers Guild of America, as well as the Board of the American Film Institute. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.