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John Badham

Biography

John Badham

Overview

  • Born
    August 25, 1939 · Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK
  • Birth name
    Charles John Smith
  • Height
    6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Biography

  • English-born "Army brat" John Badham is the son of English actress Mary Hewitt and the stepson of an American Army general. Raised in Alabama and schooled at Yale, he cut his teeth producing and directing for TV before making his feature debut with The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976). Badham's breakthrough credit was the box office smash Saturday Night Fever (1977), made the following year; other hits on his resume include Blue Thunder (1983), WarGames (1983), and Short Circuit (1986).
    - IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>

Family

  • Spouses
      Julia Badham(1992 - present)
      Jan Speck(November 19, 1983 - 1990) (divorced)
      Bonnie Hughes(December 28, 1967 - March 20, 1979) (divorced, 1 child)
  • Relatives
      Mary Badham(Sibling)

Self-verified on IMDbPro

  • Gender / Gender identity
    Male

Trademarks

  • Frequently casts Richard Dreyfuss
  • [Attribution] His films almost always end with the title card "A John Badham Movie". Notable exceptions include Point of No Return (1993), which ends with the more serious "A John Badham Film", and Incognito (1997), which has no card at all.

Trivia

  • Directed one Oscar nominated performance: John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977).
  • Teaches film at Chapman University in Orange, California.
  • Brother of Mary Badham.
  • He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Saturday Night Fever (1977).
  • Producer Michael Douglas considered him as director of Starman (1984) but the job went to John Carpenter.

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