Richard Donner, Legendary Director Of Superman & Lethal Weapon, Passes Away

The film world has lost a giant as Richard Donner, the director of such films as Superman and Lethal Weapon, has passed away. Deadline confirmed with Donner’s wife, producer Lauren Schuler Donner, that the legendary director passed away on Monday. He was 91 years old.

Richard Donner may not be a name that is instantly recognizable to some in the way that Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, or Quentin Tarantino is, but he was a prolific filmmaker who is responsible for some of the most beloved films of the 1970s and 1980s. In addition to the aforementioned Lethal Weapon and Superman, Donner directed 1976’s The Omen as well as The Goonies, Ladyhawke, all three Lethal Weapon sequels, Scrooged and more. He was also a executive producer on the first X-Men film in 2000 among many other projects.

Born in 1930 in the Bronx, Donner wanted to become an actor and began his acting career in small roles in the 1950s. His first TV acting job for Somerset Maugham TV Theater in 1950 saw the episode’s director Martin Ritt tell him, “You can’t take direction. You should be a director.”

While Donner continued to do some acting, that advice was taken to heart and Ritt even hired Donner on as an assistant. He began directing commercials and then moved onto TV in the late 1950s, directing episodes of shows like Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gilligan’s Island, Perry Mason, and more. He continued working in TV as a director all the way into the 1970s, which is when he broke out into film.

That film breakout came with The Omen. Released in 1976 and following on the wake of The Exorcist’s success, Donner sought to make it more than just a knockoff of the other film and managed to parlay the movie into a major financial success. Donner would follow that up with one of his most famous films, the 1978 Superman starring Christopher Reeves. Donner was able to revive a character who hadn’t been seen on screen since the 1950 television series and turned superhero films into movies with the potential to be blockbusters.

He would follow that up with Superman II, but his clashes with the film’s producers led to his being fired from the sequel and replaced by Richard Lester. Donner would receive some level of vindication years later when Warner Bros. released Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, which was at least as liked (if not more) than the theatrically-released film.

Following Superman and its sequel, Donner would go on to direct a host of films including Richard Pryor’s 1982 comedy The Toy, which he followed up with the 80s classics Goonies and Ladyhawke. He had some flops on his resume as well, such as the 1980 drama Inside Moves, but his successes far outweighed his failures. The Lethal Weapon franchise created another blockbuster franchise under Donner’s purview, and he made several other films with Mel Gibson including the box office disappointment Maverick and the political thriller Conspiracy Theory. He also was heavily involved in the Tales From the Crypt franchise, directing three episodes of the show and executive producing the show and the various spin-off films like Demon Knight, Bordello of Blood, and Ritual.

On behalf of 411, our condolences to the family, friends, and many fans of Mr. Donner. The film world, and genre filmmaking in particular, would not be the same without him.