Biography

Andrew J. Kuehn was born on September 24, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Terror in the Aisles (1984), Great Performances (1971) and D.O.A. (1988). He died on January 29, 2004 in Laguna Beach, California, USA.

He attended the University of Miami, produced a local radio show and worked as a floor manager for a local sports television show.

He was the founder and head of Kaleidoscope Films, a movie advertising company since 1968, which helped to create the modern day movie trailers played before movies.

One of his Kaleidoscope Films employees, Karen Levitt, came up with the famous tagline "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water" for Jaws 2 (1978).

In 1994, Kuehn was honored by the Cannes Film Festival for a Lifetime of Excellence in movie marketing. On the tribute reel dedicated to his career, more than 1000 trailers were credited to Kuehn, including re-releases for Casablanca (1942) and the silent epic Napoleon (1927).

He was introduced to movie trailer production while working for a local ad agency during his student years at the University of Miami. After college, he ended up in New York City and found work as a writer for National Screen Service, the leading provider of movie trailers at the time. Two years later, he became head of the audiovisual advertising, promotion and publicity department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.