David L. Wolper#Productions
{{short description|American television and film producer (1928–2010)}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_name = David Lloyd Wolper
| name =
| image = David L. Wolper.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|1|11}}
| birth_place = New York, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|8|10|1928|1|11}}
| death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
| occupation = television and film producer
| spouse = Toni Carroll (1953–1955; divorced)
Margaret Dawn Richard (1958–1969; divorced)
Gloria Diane Hill (1974–2010; her death)
| children = 3
}}
David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, and North and South, and the theatrically-released films Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and L.A. Confidential. He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for his work producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as helping to bring the games there. His 1971 film (as executive producer) about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle, won an Academy Award.
Biography
Wolper was born in New York City, into an eastern European Jewish family, the son of Anna (née Fass) and Irving S. Wolper.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/44/David-L-Wolper.html|title=David L. Wolper Biography (1928-)|website=filmreference.com}} He briefly attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa before transferring to the University of Southern California.{{Cite web|date=August 31, 2010|title=Emmy award-winning "˜Roots' producer, Drake alum, dies at 82|url=https://news.drake.edu/2010/08/31/emmy-award-winning-roots-producer-drake-alum-dies-at-82-2/|website=news.drake.edu/}}
Wolper directed the 1959 documentary The Race for Space, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and others including Biography (1961–63), The Making of the President 1960 (1963) and Four Days in November (1964). Wolper then sold his company to Metromedia for $3.6 million in 1964.{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| title = METROMEDIA BUYS WOLPER CONCERN; Producer Gets $3.6 Million for Documentary Unit| work = The New York Times| access-date = June 6, 2020| date = October 23, 1964|page=35| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/23/archives/metromedia-buys-wolper-concern-producer-gets-36-million-for.html}} In October 1968, he paid $750,000 to leave Metromedia and took six films projects with him.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=January 15, 1969|page=17|title=Wolper Recovers (At a Price) Indie Status: Plans Two Theatricals Yearly}} The pre-1968 library is owned by Cube Entertainment (formerly International Creative Exchange), while the post-1970 library (along with Wolper's production company, Wolper Productions, now known as The Wolper Organization{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1976-11-03_41_213/page/48417/mode/1up|title=Applications Received (Warner Communications Inc.)|work=Federal Register|date=October 13, 1976|accessdate=April 13, 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_federal-register-find_1976-12-23_41_248/page/55940/mode/1up|title=Permitted (Warner Communications Inc.)|work=Federal Register|date=November 26, 1976|accessdate=April 13, 2021}}) has been owned by Warner Bros. since November 1976.{{Cite news|date=July 27, 1988|title=Producer David L. Wolper and his company...|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-27-fi-6307-story.html|access-date=October 20, 2020}}
In 1969, Wolper received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}
He won an Academy Award for the 1971 film The Hellstrom Chronicle, about the study of insects, which he executive produced. He also produced numerous documentaries and documentary series including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (TV) (1968), Appointment With Destiny (1971–73 TV series), Visions of Eight (1973), This Is Elvis (1981), Imagine: John Lennon (1988) and others.
On March 13, 1974, one of his crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when their Sierra Pacific Airlines Corvair 440 slammed into the White Mountains shortly after takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California, killing all 35 on board, including 31 Wolper crew members. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man. The cause of the crash remains unsolved.{{cite web|url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/PrimalMan-N4819C.htm |title='Primal Man' Crash |publisher=Check-six.com |access-date=2012-06-18}}
In 1984, he helped bring the Olympic Games to Los Angeles and produced the opening and closing ceremonies.{{cite magazine|magazine=Daily Variety|page=1|date=February 15, 1985|title=Academy Votes Hersholt Award To David Wolper}} He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards the following year.
In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame-honorees|title=Television Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List}} For his work on television, he had received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Wolper died on August 10, 2010, of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease at his Beverly Hills home.{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jS9NDMWghDda11zVwnU0CgtAYA6AD9HHE5T01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815081442/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jS9NDMWghDda11zVwnU0CgtAYA6AD9HHE5T01|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 15, 2010|title=David Wolper, producer of 'Roots,' has died|agency=Associated Press|access-date=2010-08-11|date=2010-08-11}} He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hollywood Hills cemetery.
Productions
His company was involved in the following productions. He was a distributor of the early shows, and became an executive producer with The Race for Space in 1958.{{cite web|url=http://www.davidlwolper.com/shows/filmography.cfm |title=Filmography |publisher=David L. Wolper |access-date=2012-06-18}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.davidlwolper.com}}
- {{IMDb name|938678}}
- {{The Interviews name}}
- {{Internet Archive author ||search=("David L. Wolper" OR "Wolper Productions")}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for David L. Wolper
|list =
{{International Emmy Founders Award}}
{{Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award}}
{{Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television}}
{{1988 Television Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolper, David L.}}
Category:American documentary film directors
Category:American television producers
Category:Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winners
Category:International Emmy Founders Award winners
Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)