Jerry Bruckheimer Biography

Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1943) is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Without a Trace, Cold Case, and The Amazing Race. At one point, three of his TV series ranked among the top 10 in the ratings"?a unique feat in television.

Some of his best-known films include Beverly Hills Cop, Flashdance, Top Gun, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Bad Boys, Enemy of the State, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the National Treasure franchise. He also serves as a Director at ZeniMax Media. Many of his films were produced by Paramount and Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment, while many of his television series were co-produced by Warner Bros. and CBS Television Studios. In July 2003, Bruckheimer was honored by Variety magazine as the first producer in Hollywood history to produce the top two highest-grossing films of a single weekend, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. and Bad Boys II.

Early life

The son of German Jewish immigrants, Bruckheimer was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Mumford High School in Detroit until moving to Arizona for college at age 17. Bruckheimer was also an active member of the Stamp Collecting Club. He graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Arizona with an algebra minor. He was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. A film buff at an early age with an interest in photography, Bruckheimer would take snapshots when he had the opportunity. After college Bruckheimer worked in advertising in Detroit and New York City, producing award-winning commercials.

Film production

As of 2010, Bruckheimer has produced over 40 feature films, and is regarded in the industry as one of the most successful film producers of all time. Bruckheimer started producing films in the 1970s, after leaving his job in advertising, with director Dick Richards. They had worked together on the films The Culpepper Cattle Company, Farewell, My Lovely, and March or Die. Bruckheimer then worked with Paul Schrader on two films, American Gigolo and Cat People, which began to give him notice in Hollywood.

During the 1980s and 1990s, he was a co-producer with Don Simpson of a string of highly successful Hollywood films for Paramount Pictures. He originally met Don at a screening of 1973's The Harder They Come at Warner Brothers. The two worked together and created Bruckheimer's first big hit, 1983's Flashdance, which brought in US$95 million, an incredible sum for an R-rated film. He had a number of other hits including the Beverly Hills Cop films, Top Gun and Days of Thunder.

While working with Simpson, Bruckheimer became known as "Mr. Outside" because of his experience with film making, while Simpson became known as "Mr. Inside" because of his film industry contacts. The Rock was the last film in which Bruckheimer collaborated with Simpson, due to Simpson's untimely death. Bruckheimer stipulated that The Rock be dedicated to the memory of Simpson (this fact is mentioned at the end of the film).

Despite the setback of the untimely death of Simpson in 1996, Bruckheimer has continued to produce a large number of action films often working with director Michael Bay for several hits including Armageddon. His other hit films produced include Remember the Titans, Black Hawk Down and the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also acquired the rights to produce a film based on the popular role playing game by Palladium Books, Rifts.

Television production

Early in his career, Bruckheimer produced television commercials, including one for Pepsi. Since 1997 he has branched out into television, creating a number of police dramas of which CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been the most successful. He has also produced the reality game show The Amazing Race. In May 2008 CBS announced it had picked up Bruckheimer's newest series, Eleventh Hour, for the 2008"2009 broadcast television season. The science fiction drama follows a government agent and a professor as they investigate strange scientific and medical activity.

From 2004 (beginning of CSI: NY) to 2009 (end of Without a Trace), Bruckheimer had six hit television shows on the air: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Cold Case, Without a Trace and The Amazing Race. At one point, three of his TV series ranked among the top 10 in the ratings"?a unique feat in television. It was announced on September 10, 2009 that NBC had picked up an action procedural from Jerry Bruckheimer. The show, titled Chase, "tells the stories of a team charged with making sure fugitive criminals don't evade justice," reports The Hollywood Reporter. It was canceled in May 2011. Bruckheimer's most notable flop was Skin, which was cancelled after three episodes in 2003.

Financial success

One of the most successful producers of all time, Bruckheimer has been nicknamed "Mr. Blockbuster", due to his track record of commercially successful, high-grossing films. Overall, his films have brought in over $13 billion to Hollywood, and have launched the careers of numerous actors and directors.

In 2007, he was ranked #39 on Forbes Celebrity 100 List, up from #42 in 2006. With reported annual earnings of $120 million, he was the 10th highest money-earner on the 2006 Forbes Celebrity 100 List.

Notable box-office grosses

In July 2003, Bruckheimer was honored by Variety magazine as the first producer in Hollywood history to produce the top two highest-grossing films of a single weekend, the buddy-cop Bad Boys II and the Disney theme-park spin-off, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy, produced through Walt Disney Pictures was enormously profitable, and demonstrates Bruckheimer's ability to create lucrative projects. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the first film in the franchise, was released on July 9, 2003. A popular box office hit, it was well received by critics and filmgoers alike. After the unexpected success of the first film, Walt Disney Pictures revealed that a trilogy was in the works. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was released on July 7, 2006. The sequel proved to be very successful, breaking records worldwide the day of its premiere. In the end it acquired a total of $1,066,179,725 at the worldwide box office, becoming the third and fastest film to reach this amount. The third film in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released worldwide on May 25, 2007. Altogether, the film franchise has grossed over $2.79 billion worldwide. Also at 2011, the fourth film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

For 19 years, the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop (estimated earnings $234 million) stood as Bruckheimer's highest-grossing film until August 12, 2003, when it was pushed to the number two spot by Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, then to the number three spot by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and then to the number four spot by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Professional honors and awards

The editors of Entertainment Weekly named Bruckheimer the #1 most-powerful person in Hollywood in 2003. He was ranked #10 on Premieres 2006 "Power 50" list, and had also ranked #10 on the 2005 list. He ranked #19 on Premieres 2003 annual Hollywood Power List, and had ranked #22 in 2002. His projects have been honored with 41 Academy Award nominations (six wins), eight Grammy Award nominations (five wins), 23 Golden Globe nominations (four wins), 77 Emmy Award nominations (nine wins), eight People's Choice nominations (four wins), and numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade.

Bruckheimer received the ShoWest Producer of the Year Award in 1998 and in 2000 the Producers Guild honored him with the David O. Selznick Award for Lifetime Achievement.In May 2006, he was honored with a doctor of fine arts degree (DFA) from the University of Arizona's College of Fine Arts.

On June 24, 2013, Bruckheimer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, placed right by El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Views on cinema

When asked about his favorite films, he named 1972's The Godfather, 1971's The French Connection, 1997's Good Will Hunting, and 1959's The 400 Blows. When asked on what the film industry's obligation to an audience was, Bruckheimer responded, "We are in the transportation business. We transport audiences from one place to another." When asked why he makes films, he stated, "If I made films for the critics, or for someone else, I'd probably be living in some small Hollywood studio apartment."

Personal life

Bruckheimer has been married twice. His first wife was Bonnie Bruckheimer. He currently lives in Los Angeles, with his second wife, novelist Linda Sue (Cobb) Balahoutis Bruckheimer. He also has one stepdaughter, Alexandra. The couple also owns a farm in Bloomfield, Kentucky, about southeast of Louisville, as well as another in Ojai, south of Santa Barbara. As a teenager, Linda moved from Kentucky to Los Angeles, where she has been a writer, producer and West Coast editor for Mirabella, and where she married Jerry Bruckheimer. She regularly spends time as a preservation activist, restoring and preserving historic buildings in small rural U.S. towns.

His film company, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, is located at 1631 10th Street in Santa Monica, California.

Philanthropic activities

Bruckheimer's philanthropic activities have included publicly supporting the fight against multiple sclerosis via his work with The Nancy Davis Foundation for MS. He has additionally pledged to help various causes by establishing the Jerry Bruckheimer Foundation. However, according to The Smoking Gun, the last time the Jerry Bruckheimer Foundation made a contribution was in 1995, when it gave $9,350 to Van Nuys prep school.

Bruckheimer has aided in the repair and restoration of the historic clipper ship Cutty Sark. A collection of photos taken by Bruckheimer went on display in London in November 2007 to help raise money for the Cutty Sark Conservation Project. The exhibition featured more than thirty pictures taken on set during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Political contributions

Bruckheimer donated funds to John McCain's 2008 presidential election campaign. In 2007 it was reported that he donated 29% of his $20,700 in political contributions to Republican candidates, but mainly leans Democratic otherwise.. He gave $5,000 to a joint fundraising committee on John McCain's behalf. Bruckheimer has donated more than $50,000 to Republican campaigns and committees. Bruckheimer donated $25,000 to the 2012 Mitt Romney Victory Fund.

Sports ownership

Bruckheimer has been named as one of the investors of a new sports arena in Las Vegas and has been rumored to be the leading choice by the National Hockey League to own an expansion hockey team that would play in the proposed arena.

Video Games

In December 2007 Bruckheimer announced plans to partner with MTV to create a new game studio.

The same year Bruckheimer joined ZeniMax Media board of directors and has since showed up at several lauch parties for Bethesda Softworks titles including Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In 2009 Bruckheimer unveiled Jerry Bruckheimer Games headed by Former Microsoft Game Studios Publishing Executive Producer Jim Veevaert as president of production and Jay Cohen, previously Ubisoft's vice president of U.S. publishing, as president of development.

In 2011 it was rumored that Jerry Bruckheimer Games was working on 3 titles, nothing came out of it ever since.

In March 2013 Jerry Bruckheimer Games was closed.

While Jerry Bruckheimer Games was closed Bruckheimer still remains a ZeniMax board member to this day, mostly due to being a close Associate of ZeniMax President Ernest Del.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Cast	Notes
1972	The Culpepper Cattle Co.	Gary Grimes, Billy Green Bush, Royal Dano	associate producer, with 20th Century Fox
1975	Farewell, My Lovely	Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland	with AVCO Embassy Pictures
	Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins	Sally Kellerman, Mackenzie Phillips, Alan Arkin	associate producer, with Warner Bros.
1977	March or Die	Gene Hackman, Catherine Deneuve, Terence Hill	with Columbia Pictures and ITC Entertainment
1980	Defiance	Jan-Michael Vincent, Art Carney, Theresa Saldana	with American International Pictures
	American Gigolo	Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Hector Elizondo	with Paramount Pictures
1981	Thief	James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky	with United Artists
1982	Young Doctors in Love	Sean Young, Michael McKean, Crystal Bernard	with 20th Century Fox
	Cat People	Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard	with Universal Pictures and RKO Pictures
1983	Flashdance	Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Kyle T. Heffner	with Paramount Pictures
1984	Beverly Hills Cop	Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton	with Paramount Pictures
	Thief of Hearts	Steven Bauer, David Caruso, John Getz	with Paramount Pictures
1986	Top Gun	Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer	with Paramount Pictures
1987	Beverly Hills Cop II	Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Jürgen Prochnow	with Paramount Pictures
1990	Days of Thunder	Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall	with Paramount Pictures
1994	The Ref	Denis Leary, Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey	with Touchstone Pictures
1995	Dangerous Minds	Michelle Pfeiffer, Courtney B. Vance, Robin Bartlett	with Hollywood Pictures
	Crimson Tide	Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman	with Hollywood Pictures
	Bad Boys	Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Téa Leoni	with Columbia Pictures
1996	The Rock	Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris	with Hollywood Pictures
1997	Con Air	Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich	with Touchstone Pictures
1998	Enemy of the State	Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight	with Touchstone Pictures
	Armageddon	Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton	with Touchstone Pictures
2000	Remember the Titans	Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris	with Walt Disney Pictures
	Coyote Ugly	Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello	with Touchstone Pictures
	Gone in Sixty Seconds	Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi	with Touchstone Pictures
2001	Black Hawk Down	Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor	with Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios
	Pearl Harbor	Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale	with Touchstone Pictures
2002	Bad Company	Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Kerry Washington	with Touchstone Pictures
2003	Bad Boys II	Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Jordi Mollà	with Columbia Pictures
	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley	with Walt Disney Pictures
	Veronica Guerin	Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, Ciarán Hinds	with Touchstone Pictures
	Kangaroo Jack	Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Christopher Walken	with Warner Bros. and Castle Rock Entertainment
2004	National Treasure	Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha	with Walt Disney Pictures
	King Arthur	Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd	with Touchstone Pictures
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley	with Walt Disney Pictures
	Déjà Vu	Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton	with Touchstone Pictures
	Glory Road	Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Jon Voight	with Walt Disney Pictures
2007	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha	with Walt Disney Pictures
	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley	with Walt Disney Pictures
2009	G-Force	Zach Galifianakis, Faizon Love, Bill Nighy	with Walt Disney Pictures
	Confessions of a Shopaholic	Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter	with Touchstone Pictures
2010	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton	with Walt Disney Pictures
	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina	with Walt Disney Pictures
2011	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush	with Walt Disney Pictures
2013	The Lone Ranger	Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, William Fichtner	with Walt Disney Pictures

Upcoming Films

Year	Film	Cast	Notes
2015	Beware the Night	Eric Bana, Olivia Munn, Joel McHale	with Screen Gems
2016	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	Johnny Depp	with Walt Disney Pictures

Television

Television films

• Max Q (1998) television film (exec. producer)
• Swing Vote (1999) television film (exec. producer)
• Fearless (2004) television film (co-producer, exec. producer)

Reality television

• The Amazing Race (2001"present) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Take the Money and Run (2011) TV series (exec. producer)

Comedy

• Modern Men (2006) TV series (exec. producer)

Drama

• Soldier of Fortune, Inc. (1997"1998) TV Series (exec. producer)
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000"present) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Without a Trace (2002"2009) TV Series (exec. producer)
• CSI: Miami (2002"2012) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Profiles from the Front Line (2003) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Skin (2003) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Cold Case (2003"2010) TV Series (exec. producer)
• CSI: NY (2004"2013) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Just Legal (2005"2006) TV Series (exec. producer)
• E-Ring (2005"2006) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Close to Home (2005"2007) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Justice (2006) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Eleventh Hour (2008"2009) TV Series (exec. producer)
• The Forgotten (2009"2010) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Dark Blue (2009"2010) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Miami Medical (2010) TV Series (exec. producer)
• Chase (2010"2011) TV Series (exec. producer)
• The Whole Truth (2010) TV series (exec. producer)

Pilots

• The Legacy was shot for UPN's 2002-2003 season, written by Simon Kinberg and directed by Jim Gillespie. The Legacy is a science fiction drama that tells the story of a young assistant District Attorney Sam (Matthew Marsden) who inherits superpowers and must juggle the responsibility with his existing job and girlfriend Jess.

• An HBO television series inspired by Cocaine Cowboys is in the works, with Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben serving as executive producers. It will chronicle the early days of cocaine trafficking in Miami, and is being produced by HBO sister company Warner Bros. Television, where Jerry Bruckheimer TV is based.