Steven Spielberg
GREATEST DIRECTOR OF THE 20TH CENTURY!

One of the most acclaimed directors of 20th century, Steven Allan Spielberg is an American Icon. From Close Encounters to Schindler's List, Spielberg has never failed to amaze and delight his audience. He has set a level of excellence that very few directors ever could achieve. Steven Spielberg is no doubt one of the most influential film director and producer in Hollywood. He is Hollywood's best director, three times academy winner and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has achieved success as a director, producer and also as a writer.

In a career that spans almost four decades, Spielberg's films have touched many themes and genres. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, three of his films, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park became the highest grossing films for their time.

As of 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry.

In a career that spans almost four decades, Spielberg's films have touched many themes and genres. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, three of his films, Jaws, E.T., and Jurassic Park became the highest grossing films for their time.

Background

Steven Spielberg born in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 18, 1946. His father Arnold was an electric engineer and his mother Leah was a concert pianist. Steven was attracted to the world of entertainment right from childhood. Steven won a contest at the age of 13, he had made a 40 minutes long film, Escape to Nowhere.

Before entering in the film industry Steven went to Long Beach University. There he could not find himself in study and started pursuing his entertainment career. Steven tried his hands on direction career with Battle Squad in 1961, which combined World War Two footage. Steven also directed another short film The Last Gun. Steven was very serious about his career and for next couple of years; he directed some movies that he was to decide if he could make his career in direction.

In 1964, Steven directed movie "Firelight" which featured aliens invading a small town. His next directed movie was Amblin in 1968, further Steve established a production company Amblin with which he produced some more movies.

About 20 years back Spielberg directed a movie E.T.The Extra Terrestrials that was a true start of the Spielberg era. Spielberg also worked on TV in some projects "M.D. Marcus Welby" in 1969 and "Night Gallery" in 1970 to name some. Spielberg was marching towards a path where he would later become one of the most acclaimed and famous directors.

Movies directed and produced by Spielberg after 1977 were appreciated and seen by audience all over the world. Steven Spielberg not only directed serious movies but he tried his hands on comedy movies, animated adventures also, and most of the times he achieved success in entertaining his audience. Movies like: Raiders of The Lost Arc in 1981, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial in 1982, Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom in 1984, some animated series in 1986, Empire of The Sun in 1987, Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, Always in 1989, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade 1989, Back To The Future in 1989 etc. are some feathers in his cap.

Movies

Classics

Jurassic Park Running Time: 127 minutes Colour: Deluxe Estimated Attendance: 16.17 million

Synopsis

When one of his workers is killed, leisure tycoon John Hammond is advised by lawyer Donald Gennaro to have outside experts survey and endorse his latest venture, Jurassic Park. Palaeontologist Alan Grant, palaeobotanist Ellie Sattler and chaos theoretician lan Malcolm are taken to an island off the coast of Costa Rica and given a tour of facilities where dinosaurs have been genetically engineered. With Hammond's grandchildren Tim and Alexis, the team are sent on an automated "ride" through areas in which various species of dinosaur are penned. It soon becomes apparent that, beyond the successful recreation of the dinosaurs, the park is rife with design flaws, with the animals stubbornly refusing to conform to Hammond's plans.

As a storm hits, Dennis Nedry, who designed and operates the park's computer systems, shuts down the security programmes so that he can steal a selection of dinosaur embryos he intends to sell to a rival corporation. The ride breaks down and Gennaro is eaten by a tyrannosaurus rex which tries to get at the children, who are rescued by Alan while lan is wounded distracting the beast. Nedry, lost in the storm, is blinded and killed by a venom-spitting dilophosaurus while Hammond is forced to shut down the power to get around blocks Nedry has integrated into the control systems.

Ellie, accompanied by Robert Muldoon, a game warden who has always distrusted dinosaurs, ventures out to reactivate the power from a generator, while Alan and the children make their way back to the control centre. Muldoon is killed by velociraptors, a vicious and intelligent pack animal; Ellie turns the power on just as Tim is clambering over an electric fence. Alan, who has formerly hated children, manages to save Tim, but the survivors discover that the velociraptors have breached the control centre. Alan, Ellie and the children are menaced by the persistent velociraptors, who are only defeated when the tyrannosaurus intervenes and kills the smaller beasts. The survivors flee the island.

ET – The Extra Terrestrial Running Time: 115 minutes Colour: Deluxe Estimated Attendance: 13.13 million

Synopsis

An alien spacecraft has come to earth on the outskirts of a Los Angeles suburb, and its personnel are investigating the surrounding woods when they are interrupted by a group of men, apparently searching for them. One of their number is inadvertently left behind, and he takes shelter in the back garden of the nearest house. Ten-year-old Elliott, who lives there with his mother Mary (recently abandoned by her husband), older brother Michael and sister Gertie, believes he sees something but is pooh-poohed by his family. That night, he encounters the extra-terrestrial, and they both flee. Next day, Elliott searches the woods and leaves a trail of M&M candies, which eventually lead the hungry creature to his room. Elliott tries to make his guest at home, hiding him from Mary but introducing him to his brother and sister. "E.T." (who has already established a deeply empathetic relationship with Elliott) astounds them with feats of levitation, and eventually communicates that he would like to "phone home". The children collect odds and ends of equipment to help him build the necessary device, while the searchers in radio vans begin to close in. On Halloween, the children smuggle E.T. out of the house, and Elliott spends the night with him in the hills as he tries to communicate with his own people. Elliott, becoming ill himself as E.T. sickens in the alien climate, eventually returns home, whereupon the searchers, led by “Keys”, break into the house and set up equipment for reviving both the boy and the extra-terrestrial. Eventually, the sympathetic bond between the two is broken and Elliott recovers while E.T. apparently dies. But a message from 'home' restores him, and the delighted Elliott persuades Michael and their school friends to help transport him back to the woods, where the spacecraft returns and Elliott bids E.T. a sad farewell.

Jaws Running Time: 125 minutes Colour: Technicolor Estimated Attendance: 16.2 million

Synopsis

Convinced that the remains of a girl found on the shore indicate a shark attack, Martin Brody - chief of police in the Long Island resort of Amity - decides to close the beaches. Pressured by prominent citizens including Mayor Vaughn, who argue that the victim might have been mangled by a boat and point out the disastrous consequences of a shark scare on the tourist trade (the Fourth of July influx is imminent), Brody reluctantly agrees to post guards and warning signs instead. The shark kills a small boy, and with the beaches now closed, local sportsmen set out on a shark hunt. They return triumphant, but Brody is assured by Hooper, an oceanographic expert, that the dead shark is not the Great White that perpetrated the attacks. The distraught town council agrees to pay the $10,000 demanded by Quint, an experienced shark-killer, to do the job for them. Despite Brody's pathological fear of the sea - increased when he and Hooper find the deserted wreck of a fishing-boat attacked by the shark - he forces himself on the sneering Quint as an assistant along with Hooper. After a prolonged chase in which the shark seems to have become the hunter, Hooper is lost when he goes over the side in a diving cage to try a tranquillising dart; and Quint, rejecting any advice in his obsessive vendetta (he was one of the few survivors when his ship was torpedoed in shark-infested waters after delivering the Hiroshima bomb), is killed when the shark succeeds in demolishing the boat. Clinging despairingly to the wreckage, Brody contrives to blow the shark to bits with a compressed oxygen tank from Hooper's diving equipment. Hooper reappears unharmed, and Brody exultantly discovers that he has lost his fear of the sea.

Interesting Facts

His famous god-daughter
Drew Barrymore. Drew Barrymore was born on February 22, 1975 in Culver City, California.

 His first Oscar for best director
Schindler's List. He never got the award for any of his movies until the mid-90s.

Name of the restaurant he once owned located on Santa Monica Blvd
Dive!. His mother owns "The Milky Way" located nearby. "Dive!" closed in January 1999. It was co-owned by none other than SKG partner, Jeffrey Katzenberg. It had a maze of metal catwalks, exposed conduits, pressure gauges, throttles, control panels, sonar screens, and artfully-placed video screens filled with images of fish and blue underwater scenes. It also had 4 working periscopes which allowed guests to zoom and pan in on the action outside in the shopping center. The seats at the bar resembled torpedoes topped with round targets. Upstairs, a fleet of model ships and subs circled the ceiling.

The man's name that was caught and convicted of stalking Steven and his family in 1998
Jonathan Norman was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in June 1998 for stalking him and threatening.

The name of his production company in which he shares with 2 other top film moguls?
Dreamworks SKG. Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen (hence SKG), joined together to produce films, TV programming, interactive softwares, games and music. Although it was a rocky beginning, DreamWorks rebounded in 1998 with such films as "Deep Impact", "Saving Private Ryan", "Antz" and "The Prince Of Egypt" to name a few. Principals Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen each initially invested $33 million for a 22 percent stake apiece. Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, is DreamWorks' largest shareholder with a 24 percent stake of the company.

The course Steven major in when he attended Cal State
English. Steven attended California State College (now known as California State University), in Long Beach but dropped out to pursue his directing career.

Steven's wife was a main character in one of his movies. The movie was:
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. She was the blond ditz Willy.

Years and films, before 2000, Steven won 2 Academy Awards
1994-"Schindler's List". In 1999, Steven did win an Oscar for "Saving Private Ryan" for Best Director and was nominated for Best Picture, however, it was in 1994 when Steven took home 2 Oscars in the categories of Best Director and Best Picture for "Schindler's List", (which won a total of 7 Oscars and was nominated for 5).

Steven appeared in Michael Jackson’s music video
Liberian Girl.

His children
Steven has a total of 7 children. He has 2 adopted children, Theo Spielberg was born 1988 and was adopted by Kate Capshaw before her marriage to Steven. He then adopted Theo. His second adopted child, Mikaela George Spielberg, was born on February 28, 1996. He is a stepfather to Jessica, (Kate's daughter), and has 1 child by former wife, Amy Irving, Max, who was born in June 1985. He has three children with Kate, Sasha, born in June 1990, Sawyer, born on March 10, 1992 and Destry Allyn, born on December 1, 1996.

Posters

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