Robert W. Cort
{{Short description|American film producer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Robert Cort - golf cart 3.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Robert W. Cort
| name = Robert W. Cort
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|1|13}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York City, United States
| years_active = 1976–present
| occupation = Producer
| spouse = Rosalie Swedlin}}
Robert W. Cort (born January 13, 1951) is an American film producer. Since 1985 he has produced forty-eight feature films which have grossed more than $2.5 billion in worldwide box office.{{cite web |url=http://www.afi.com/conservatory/about/faculty.aspx |title=AFI Conservatory: Faculty |website=www.afi.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623044703/http://www.afi.com/conservatory/about/faculty.aspx |archive-date=2011-06-23}} These include: On the Basis of Sex, Three Men and a Baby, Cocktail, Jumanji, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise,{{cite news| url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/85969/Robert-Cort/filmography | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016214619/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/85969/Robert-Cort/filmography | url-status=dead | archive-date=2013-10-16 | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=The New York Times | date=2013 | title=Robert Cort}} The Cutting Edge,{{cite news|last=Holden |first=Stephen |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE6DA163CF934A15750C0A964958260 |title=Movie Review - The Cutting Edge - Review/Film; Hot Pursuit of Olympic Success on the Ice - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=March 27, 1992 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}} Against the Ropes, Runaway Bride,{{cite news|author=A. O. Scott |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F03E0DA103DF933A15751C0A9629C8B63&pagewanted=print |title=Movie Review - Against the Ropes - FILM REVIEW; Fearlessly Going Where The Punches Are Flying - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=February 20, 2004 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}} and Save the Last Dance.{{cite news|last=Maslin |first=Janet |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9902E0DC1431F933A05754C0A96F958260 |title=Movie Review - Runaway Bride - FILM REVIEW; Pretty Woman Is Back, But Now She's Cautious - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=July 30, 1999 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}{{cite news|last=Mitchell |first=Elvis |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9901E7DC1F3AF931A25752C0A9679C8B63 |title=Movie Review - Save the Last Dance - FILM REVIEW; A Young Ballerina Discovers Hip-Hop, and Yo! - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=January 12, 2001 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}
Cort also produced Mr. Holland's Opus{{cite news| url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F04E0DF1E39F93AA25752C0A960958260 | work=The New York Times | first=Janet | last=Maslin | title=FILM REVIEW;A Teacher Who Once Had Dreams | date=January 19, 1996}} and currently serves on the board of directors for The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation{{Cite web|url=http://www.mhopus.org/About-Us/Board-of-Directors|title = Mr Holland's Opus Foundation – Keeping Music Alive in Our Schools}}
Cort’s HBO film, Something the Lord Made, won three Emmy Awards, including the 2004 Outstanding Film Made for Television.{{Cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/shows/something-lord-made|title = Something the Lord Made}} The film also won the American Film Institute Award, the Director's and Writer's Guild Awards, the Christopher, NAACP Image Award and the prestigious Peabody Award.{{cite news| url=http://tv.nytimes.com/show/30887/Something-the-Lord-Made/awards | work=The New York Times | title=Test}} His other television films have also won multiple honors, including the 1990 Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program for A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story.{{Cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/shows/mothers-courage-mary-thomas-story-magi|title = A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story the Magi}}
His production of the family drama Im Winter ein Jahr (English Title: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452580/ A Year Ago in Winter]), won the Silver Lola for Best Picture at the 2009 German Academy Awards.{{Cite web|url=http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/lola-awards-2009-german-film-academy-awards/|title = Bruce Lee Biopic & German 'Schindler's List' + World War I Disaster & Mafia Thugs: Award Winners| date=April 19, 2009 }}
Career history
Cort entered the motion picture industry in 1976 and one year later was named vice president of advertising, publicity and promotion for Columbia Pictures. In 1980, he became executive vice president of marketing for Fox. In his five years as a marketing chief, Cort planned and supervised the campaigns of such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Midnight Express, The China Syndrome, All That Jazz, The Empire Strikes Back and Nine to Five. He then served as executive vice president of production at Twentieth Century Fox, where he oversaw the making of Romancing the Stone, Bachelor Party, and Revenge of the Nerds.
For the next eleven years, Cort was a partner and president of Interscope Communications. From 1996 to 2001, he was the managing partner with David Madden of The Cort/Madden Company, a production unit with close ties to Paramount Pictures. He currently operates Robert Cort Productions, an independent production company.
Cort was a partner and president of Interscope Communications.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-27-fi-50514-story.html |title=ENTERTAINMENT : Interscope President to Resign; Parting Amicable, Partner Says – Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=September 27, 1995 |access-date=August 6, 2011 |first=Claudia |last=Eller}}
From 1996 to 2001, Cort was the managing partner of The Cort/Madden Company, a production unit with close ties to Paramount Pictures.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-08-fi-724-story.html |title=Company Town Annex – Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=November 8, 1995 |access-date=August 6, 2011}}
In 2003 Random House published Cort's novel, Action!, which garnered positive critical reviews and became a bestseller.{{cite news|last=Kennedy |first=Dana |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/books/review/0802br-briefs.html?pagewanted=all |title=Books in Brief – Fiction and Poetry |work=The New York Times |date=August 3, 2003 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/32221/action-by-robert-cort/|title=Action! by Robert Cort: 9781588362933 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|accessdate=April 28, 2024}}
His articles and essays have been published in The New York Times and The New Yorker.{{cite news|last=Cort |first=Robert W. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/06/opinion/06cort.html |title=Straight to DVD – New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=May 6, 2006 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}}{{cite magazine|last=Friend |first=Tad |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/05/26/030526ta_talk_friend |title=The Pictures: Novelization |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 7, 2009 |accessdate=August 6, 2011}} and he is currently a professor of production on the faculty of the American Film Institute.
Prior to working in the entertainment industry, Cort earned BA and MA degrees in history from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School,{{Cite web|url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/sasalum/newsltr/spring04/cort.html|title = School of Arts & Sciences - University of Pennsylvania}} and was a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.
He lives in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife, Rosalie Swedlin, a manager of writers and directors.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;" | |||
| align="center"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Credit ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes | |||
| 1985 | Turk 182 | Executive producer | |
| rowspan=4| 1987 | Critical Condition | ||
| Outrageous Fortune | |||
| Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise | |||
| Three Men and a Baby | |||
| rowspan=2| 1988 | The Seventh Sign | ||
| Cocktail | |||
| rowspan=5| 1989 | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure | Executive producer | |
| Collision Course | |||
| Renegades | Executive producer | ||
| Blind Fury | Executive producer | ||
| An Innocent Man | |||
| rowspan=5| 1990 | The First Power | Executive producer | |
| Bird on a Wire | Executive producer | ||
| Arachnophobia | Co-executive producer | ||
| A Gnome Named Gnorm | |||
| Three Men and a Little Lady | |||
| rowspan=4| 1991 | Eve of Destruction | Executive producer | |
| Class Action | |||
| Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | Executive producer | ||
| Paradise | Executive producer | ||
| rowspan=6| 1992 | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Executive producer | |
| The Cutting Edge | |||
| FernGully: The Last Rainforest | Executive producer | ||
| Jersey Girl | Executive producer | ||
| The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag | Executive producer | ||
| Out on a Limb | Executive producer | ||
| rowspan=4| 1994 | The Air Up There | ||
| Holy Matrimony | Executive producer | ||
| Terminal Velocity | Executive producer | ||
| Imaginary Crimes | Executive producer | ||
| rowspan=7| 1995 | Roommates | ||
| Separate Lives | Executive producer | ||
| Operation Dumbo Drop | Executive producer | ||
| The Tie That Binds | Executive producer | ||
| Two Much | Executive producer | ||
| Jumanji | Executive producer | ||
| Mr. Holland's Opus | |||
| rowspan=4| 1996 | The Arrival | Executive producer | |
| Boys | Executive producer | ||
| Kazaam | Executive producer | ||
| The Associate | Executive producer | ||
| 1998 | The Odd Couple II | ||
| rowspan=2| 1999 | The Out-of-Towners | ||
| Runaway Bride | |||
| 2001 | Save the Last Dance | ||
| 2004 | Against the Ropes | ||
| 2006 | Save the Last Dance 2 | Executive producer | Direct-to-video |
| 2008 | A Year Ago in Winter | Executive producer | |
| 2013 | Make Your Move | ||
| 2015 | Terminator Genisys | Executive producer | |
| 2018 | On the Basis of Sex | ||
| 2020 | The Secret: Dare to Dream | ||
| {{center|{{TableTBA}}}} | The Tale of the Allergist's Wife |
;Thanks
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;" | ||
| align="center"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role | ||
| 2013 | The Call | Special thanks |
=Television=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;" | |||
| align="center"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Credit ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes | |||
| 1989 | A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1994 | A Part of the Family | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1995 | Body Language | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1997 | Snow White: A Tale of Terror | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1999 | In the Company of Spies | Television film | |
| 2000 | Harlan County War | Executive producer | Television film |
| rowspan=2| 2002 | The Rats | Executive producer | Television film |
| Save the Last Dance | Television pilot | ||
| 2004 | Something the Lord Made | Executive producer | Television film |
| 2005 | VH1 News Presents: Hollywood Secrets Revealed: Movie Screw Ups |
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0181202|Robert W. Cort}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cort, Robert W.}}
Category:Film producers from New York (state)