Robert W. Cort

Robert W. Cort 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.[1] 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,[2] The Cutting Edge,[3] Against the Ropes,[3] Runaway Bride,[4] and Save the Last Dance.[5][6]
Cort also produced Mr. Holland's Opus[7] and currently serves on the board of directors for The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation[8]
Cort’s HBO film, Something the Lord Made, won three Emmy Awards, including the 2004 Outstanding Film Made for Television.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11][12]
His production of the family drama Im Winter ein Jahr (English Title: A Year Ago in Winter), won the Silver Lola for Best Picture at the 2009 German Academy Awards.[13][14]
== 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.[15]
For the next eleven years, Cort was a partner and president of Interscope Communications. From 1996 to 2001, he was the managing partner of The Cort/Madden Company, a production unit with close ties to Paramount Pictures. He currently operates Robert Cort Productions, an independent production company.[16]
Cort was a partner and president of Interscope Communications.[17]
From 1996 to 2001, Cort was the managing partner of The Cort/Madden Company, a production unit with close ties to Paramount Pictures.[18]
In 2003 Random House published Cort's novel, Action!, which garnered positive critical reviews and became a bestseller.[19][20][21]
His articles and essays have been published in The New York Times and The New Yorker.[22][23] and he is currently a professor of production on the faculty of the American Film Institute.[24]
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,[25][26] and was a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.[27]
He lives in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife, Rosalie Swedlin, a manager of writers and directors.[28]
== Filmography ==
=== Films ===
* Turk 182! (1985) (Executive Producer, with 20th Century Fox)
* Critical Condition (1987) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* Outrageous Fortune (1987) (Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987) (Producer, with 20th Century Fox)
* Three Men and a Baby (1987) (Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* The Seventh Sign (1988) (Producer, with TriStar Pictures)
* Cocktail (1988) (Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) (Executive Producer, with Orion Pictures)
* Collision Course (1989) (Producer, with DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group)
* Renegades (1989) (Executive Producer, with Universal Pictures)
* An Innocent Man (1989) (Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Blind Fury (1989) (Executive Producer, with TriStar Pictures)
* The First Power (1990) (Executive Producer, with Orion Pictures)
* Bird on a Wire (1990) (Executive Producer, with Universal Pictures)
* Arachnophobia (1990) (Co-Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) (Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Upworld (1990) (Producer)
* Eve of Destruction (1991) (Executive Producer, with Orion Pictures)
* Class Action (1991) (Producer, with 20th Century Fox)
* Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) (Executive Producer, with Orion Pictures)
* Paradise (1991) (Executive Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) (Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* The Cutting Edge (1992) (Producer, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
* FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) (Executive Producer, with 20th Century Fox)
* Jersey Girl (1992) (Executive Producer)
* The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992) (Executive Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Out on a Limb (1992) (Executive Producer, with Universal Pictures)
* The Air Up There (1994) (Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Holy Matrimony (1994) (Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Terminal Velocity (1994) (Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Imaginary Crimes (1994) (Executive Producer, with Warner Bros. Pictures)
* Roommates (1995) (Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Operation Dumbo Drop (1995) (Executive Producer, with Walt Disney Pictures)
* The Tie That Binds (1995) (Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Jumanji (1995) (Executive Producer, with TriStar Pictures)
* Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) (Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* Two Much (1995) (Executive Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* Boys (1996) (Executive Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* The Arrival (1996) (Executive Producer, with Orion Pictures)
* Kazaam (1996) (Executive Producer, with Touchstone Pictures)
* The Associate (1996) (Executive Producer, with Hollywood Pictures)
* The Odd Couple II (1998) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* The Out-of-Towners (1999) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* Runaway Bride (1999) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* Save the Last Dance (2001) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* Against the Ropes (2004) (Producer, with Paramount Pictures)
* Im Winter ein Jahr (English Title: A Year Ago in Winter) (2008) (Executive Producer)
* Make Your Move (2013) (Producer, with High Top Releasing)
* On the Basis of Sex (2018) (Producer, with Focus Features)