Jerry Zucker

Template:Use American English Template:Infobox person Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. With his brother David and Jim Abrahams, he is part the filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.

He is best known for his role in writing and directing comedy spoof films like Airplane! (1980) and Top Secret! (1984), and for co-creating the television series Police Squad!, which was later adapted into The Naked Gun film series.

He is also the director of the Academy Award-winning supernatural drama film Ghost (1990), the first box-office topper of the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life

Zucker was born to a Jewish family<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Charlotte A. (Lefstein) (d. 2007) and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer.<ref>David Zucker Biography (1947-)</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He graduated from Shorewood High School.<ref>"25 years and still laughing: 'Airplane!' maintains its cruising altitude with a non-stop zany attitude" Template:Webarchive, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 11, 2005. Accessed September 17, 2007. "The event is in honor of the volunteer service and philanthropy of Louise Abrahams Yaffe and her son Jim Abrahams, who wrote and directed "Airplane!" with fellow Shorewood High School and University of Wisconsin–Madison graduates David and Jerry Zucker."</ref> His paternal grandfather was Leonard Zucker who emigrated from Russia to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.

Career

Zucker's early career work started with Jim Abrahams and brother David Zucker. The trio performed in Madison, Wisconsin as a sketch and comedy troupe called "Kentucky Fried Theater.” They later adapted several of these sketches into a comedy anthology film, The Kentucky Fried Movie, directed by John Landis and released in 1977.

From there the three went on and together co-directed Airplane! in 1980 and then went on to do Top Secret! in 1984, and Ruthless People in 1986. Along with Jim Abrahams, the Zuckers constitute the "ZAZ" team of directors.

In 1987, both Jerry and David Zucker through Zucker Brothers Productions had signed an agreement with Paramount Pictures for a two-year non-exclusive production agreement and development deal with the studio. The brothers had anticipated cranking out four comedies for Paramount Pictures during the life of the pact; the first film was a feature film version of the early 1980s television show Police Squad!, which was originally cancelled after six episodes on the air.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1990, he lent his directorial skills to the dramatic genre with Ghost, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and won Whoopi Goldberg her only Oscar. Zucker's most recent directorial effort is the 2001 film Rat Race.

Zucker's films have been ranked among the greatest comedies of all time: Airplane! was ranked at the top of Entertainment Weekly's list of best comedy films and AFI listed it as #10; Top Secret! made Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 list.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Like his brother David Zucker, Jerry often cast his mother, Charlotte (who died in 2007), and his sister, Susan Breslau, in small roles in his films.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1977	The Kentucky Fried Movie	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
1980	Airplane!	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial	Co-director with Jim Abrahams & David Zucker
1984	Top Secret!	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
1986	Ruthless People	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1988	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Partial
1990	Ghost	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
1991	The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Partial
1994	Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:Partial
1995	First Knight	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2001	Rat Race	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes
2025	The Naked Gun	Template:No	Template:Partial	Template:No

Producer only

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1992	Brain Donors	Dennis Dugan	Executive producer
1993	My Life	Bruce Joel Rubin
1995	A Walk in the Clouds	Alfonso Arau
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	P. J. Hogan
2002	Unconditional Love
2010	Fair Game	Doug Liman
2011	Friends with Benefits	Will Gluck
2012	Mental	P. J. Hogan

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
1977	The Kentucky Fried Movie	Technician #3 / Man / Beaver / Hands
1980	Airplane!	Ground Crewman #1
1984	Top Secret!	East German Soldier
1995	Your Studio and You	Himself	Short film
2014	Asthma	Gus' Father

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1976	Big John, Little John	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	writer of episode "Abracadabra"
1982	Police Squad!	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	director and writer of episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)"
1987	Our Planet Tonight	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	TV movie
2013	Dear Dumb Diary	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes
2019	Late Night Berlin	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Episode "Folge 42"

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Note
1972	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson	Performer	Part as Kentucky Fried Theater in one episode
1974	The Midnight Special

External links

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