Richard Donner

**Richard Donner** (born **Richard Donald Schwartzberg**, April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American movie director, movie producer, and comic book writer. He was known for directing the superhero movie _Superman_, _The Goonies_, and _Lethal Weapon_.

## Early years

Richard Schwartzberg was born in the Bronx, to Jewish parents, Hattie and Fred Schwartzberg. His father owned a small furniture manufacturing business. He has a sister, Joan. Donner started his career with hopes of acting, but quickly moved into directing commercials and making business films.

## Death

Donner died on July 5, 2021 at the age of 91 at his home in West Hollywood, California. The cause of death was heart and respiratory failure caused by atherosclerosis.

### Film

|Year|Title|Director|Producer|class="unsortable"|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1961|_X-15_||rowspan="7"||rowspan="5"||
|1968|_Salt and Pepper_||||||
|1969|_Lola_ aka "Twinky"||||||
|1976|_The Omen_||||||
|1978|_Superman_||||||
|rowspan="2"|1980|_Superman II_||Uncredited; with Richard Lester|||
|_Inside Moves_|||||||
|1981|_Omen III: The Final Conflict_||||||
|1982|_The Toy_|||rowspan="4"|||
|rowspan="2"|1985|_The Goonies_|||||
|_Ladyhawke_|||||||
|rowspan="2"|1987|_Lethal Weapon_|||||
|_The Lost Boys_|||Directed by Joel Schumacher||||
|1988|_Scrooged_|||rowspan="2"|||
|1989|_Lethal Weapon 2_||||||
|1991|_Delirious_|||Directed by Tom Mankiewicz|||
|rowspan="2"|1992|_Radio Flyer_|||rowspan="2"||
|_Lethal Weapon 3_|||||||
|1993|_Free Willy_|||Directed by Simon Wincer|||
|1994|_Maverick_||||||
|rowspan="3"|1995|_Assassins_|||||
|_Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home_|||Directed by Dwight H. Little||||
|_Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight_||||Directed by Ernest Dickerson|||
|1996|_Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood_|||Directed by Gilbert Adler|||
|rowspan="2"|1997|_Conspiracy Theory_|||||
|_Free Willy 3: The Rescue_|||Directed by Sam Pillsbury||||
|1998|_Lethal Weapon 4_||||||
|1999|_Any Given Sunday_|rowspan="3"|||Directed by Oliver Stone||
|2000|_X-Men_||Directed by Bryan Singer||||
|2002|_Tales from the Crypt: Ritual_||Directed by Avi Nesher||||
|2003|_Timeline_|||rowspan="3"|||
|rowspan="2"|2006|_16 Blocks_||rowspan="2"|||
|_Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut_|||||||
|2009|_X-Men Origins: Wolverine_|||Directed by Gavin Hood|||

### Television

|Year|Title|class="unsortable"|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|1960|_Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre_|rowspan="2"|1 episode|
|_The DuPont Show with June Allyson_|||||
|1960-61|_Wanted Dead or Alive_|6 episode|||
|rowspan="4"|1961|_Letter to Loretta_|5 episode||
|_Route 66_|1 episode||||
|_The Tall Man_|2 episodes||||
|_Wagon Train_|1 episode||||
|1961-62|_Have Gun – Will Travel_|5 episodes|||
|rowspan="2"|1962|_The Detectives_|1 episode||
|_The Rifleman_|7 episodes||||
|1962-63|_Sam Benedict_|6 episodes|||
|rowspan="3"|1963|_The Eleventh Hour_|2 episodes||
|_Combat!_|rowspan="2"|1 episode|||
|_The Nurses_|||||
|rowspan="3"|1963-64|_The Lieutenant_|2 episode||
|_The Twilight Zone_|6 episodes||||
|_Mr. Novak_|7 episodes||||
|rowspan="2"|1964|_The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters_|1 episode||
|_The Man from U.N.C.L.E._|4 episode||||
|rowspan="2"|1964-65|_Gilligan's Island_|rowspan="2"|3 episode|
|_Perry Mason_|||||
|rowspan="2"|1965|_Twelve O'Clock High_|4 episode||
|_Get Smart_|2 episodes||||
|rowspan="6"|1966|_The F.B.I._|1 episode||
|_The Fugitive_|2 episodes||||
|_It's About Time_|rowspan="2"|1 episode|||
|_Jericho_|||||
|_The Wild Wild West_|rowspan="2"|3 episode|||
|_The Felony Squad_|||||
|1968-69|_The Banana Splits Adventure Hour_|6 episodes|||
|rowspan="3"|1971|_The Interns_|rowspan="2"|1 episode|
|_Sarge_|||||
|_Bearcats!_|2 episodes||||
|1971-72|_Cade's County_|3 episodes|||
|1971-73|_Cannon_|4 episodes|||
|rowspan="5"|1972|_The Sixth Sense_|rowspan="4"|1 episode|
|_Ghost Story_|||||
|_Banyon_|||||
|_Ironside_|||||
|_The Bold Ones: The New Doctors_|rowspan="2"|3 episodes|||
|1973-74|_Kojak_||||
|rowspan="4"|1974|_The Streets of San Francisco_|2 episodes||
|_Sons and Daughters_|3 episodes||||
|_Lucas Tanner_|rowspan="2"|1 episode|||
|_Petrocelli_|||||
|rowspan="2"|1975|_Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic_|Television film||
|_Bronk_|2 episode||||
|1989-92|_Tales from the Crypt_|3 episodes Also executive producer|||
|1992|_Two-Fisted Tales_|Television film with Tom Holland Robert Zemeckis|||
|1993-94|_Tales from the Cryptkeeper_|rowspan="2"|Executive producer||
|1997|_Perversions of Science_||||
|1999|_Made Men_|Producer Television film|||

## Other websites

- Archive of American Television interview, 2006

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Richard Donner
- **image**: Richard Donner (4505771045) (cropped).jpg
- **birth name**: Richard Donald Schwartzberg
- **birth place**: The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.
- **death place**: West Hollywood, California, West Hollywood, California, U.S.
- **death cause**: Heart failure, Heart and respiratory failure caused by atherosclerosis
- **nationality**: American
- **occupation**: Film director, Television director, Film producer
- **years active**: 1957–2009
- **known for**: _The Omen_
_Superman (1978 movie), Superman_
_The Goonies_
_Lethal Weapon_
- **awards**: * Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
* Satellite Award, Nicola Tesla Award
* Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films President's Award