Richard D. Zanuck

Overview

He was the son of Darryl F Zanuck. As a college student, he spent his holidays working in different departments at Fox Studios and so learned the business from the bottom up. One summer, he attended every production business meeting with his father and later joined his dad as story and production assistant on such films as Island in the Sun and The Sun Also Rises. With his father working in Africa on Roots of Heaven, he was given responsibility for a film he had been working on but hadn't expected to produce. Compulsion went on to win the Cannes Festival Award for its male stars and was a financial as well as an artistic success, establishing Richard as a producer in his own right. In 1969, at 34, with his appointment as senior executive vice president at 20th Century Fox, he was the youngest corporate president in Hollywood history. During his eight years at Fox, he rebuilt the oganisation into one of the world's most prestigious and successful studios and at the same time brought it up to date as a leading center for television and film production.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

Accompanied his father to the studio from an early age and assisted in reviewing rough cuts for studio executives.
Had his greatest successes as head of his own production company, in association with David Brown, turning out mega hits like The Sting (1973) and Jaws (1975).
The commercial and critical failure of the expensively-produced musical extravaganzas, Doctor Dolittle (1967) and Star! (1968), led to him being ousted as head of production at 20th Century Fox in 1970.
In 1965, he met producing partner David Brown during a stint at 20th Century Fox.
Between 2001 and 2012, he collaborated on six films with director Tim Burton, beginning with the remake of Planet of the Apes (2001) and ending with Dark Shadows (2012).

[about his father, studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck, being fired from his job] It was hard to see my father go through that. I recovered from being fired, I don't think he ever did.
This is a business where you make decisions using your gut.
The Sound of Music (1965) did more damage to the industry than any other picture. Everyone tried to copy it. We were the biggest offenders.

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