Dick Wolf

Richard Anthony "Dick" Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American producer, specializing in crime dramas such as Miami Vice and the Law & Order franchise. Throughout his career he has won several awards including an Emmy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life

Wolf was born in New York City, the son of Marie G. (née Gaffney), a homemaker, and George Wolf, an advertising executive. He was born into a Roman Catholic family.^[1] He went to Saint David's School in New York City. Wolf was enrolled at Phillips Academy and graduated from The Gunnery. He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1969. He was a member of Penn's chapter of the Zeta Psi fraternity.

Career

Wolf worked as an advertising copywriter at Benton & Bowles creating commercials for Crest toothpaste, all the while writing screenplays in the hopes of a film career. It was at this time that he briefly collaborated on a screenplay with Oliver Stone, who was also a struggling screenwriter at the time. He moved to Los Angeles after a few years and had three screenplays produced; one of these films, Masquerade starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly, was well received. He started his television career as a staff writer on Hill Street Blues and was nominated for his first Emmy for an episode on which he was the only writer. He moved from there to Miami Vice, where he was a supervising producer.

Wolf's Law & Order, which ran from 1990-2010, tied Gunsmoke for the longest-running dramatic show in television history, making it one of television's most successful franchises. It has been nominated for the most consecutive Emmy Awards of any primetime drama series. Wolf serves as creator and executive producer of the four current Law & Order drama series from Wolf Films and NBC Universal Television – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: UK, and Law & Order: Los Angeles. A third spinoff of the original franchise, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, was cancelled after its first season.^[2] In addition, he was the creator and executive producer of NBC's courtroom reality series Crime & Punishment, which chronicled real-life cases prosecuted by the San Diego District Attorney’s office.

Wolf's company also produced Twin Towers, the 2003 Academy Award-winning Short Documentary about two brothers, one a policeman and the other a fireman, who lost their lives in the line of duty on September 11, 2001. Currently, Wolf is involved with the production of a theatrical film that will document the popular rock group The Doors, titled When You're Strange.

Wolf's personal honors include the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival, the 2002 Creative Achievement Award from NATPE; the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award, the Leadership and Inspiration Award from the Entertainment Industries Council, the Governor’s Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the 1997 achievement award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors, the 1998 Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicist’s Guild of America, the 2002 Tribute from the Museum of Television and Radio, and a 2003 Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Wolf is also an Honorary Consul general of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality’s prestigious annual Television Festival, and is its primary liaison with the entertainment community.

On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard.^[3]

In addition to having been a classmate of former US President George W. Bush, Wolf was an employer of Fred Thompson, who sought the Republican nomination for President in 2008 with help of the national attention he gained playing the district attorney on Law & Order. Wolf supported Thompson in his bid, as he did Bush, as it has been reported that he contributed money to Thompson even before he officially announced he was running.^[4]

Wolf will be developing a drama about firefighters that could premiere in Fall 2012 on NBC.^[5]

Quotes

• “I've never understood the obsession with younger writers and dramas. Comedies I understand, but how do you write drama at 23; you haven't experienced anything. You know about 23-year-olds. It's kind of hard to write about 60 year old EADAs [Executive Assistant District Attorneys]. Only a couple of us are 60 years old so far, but there are not many 23-year-olds who can write about life-changing situations unless it's medical. That sounds weird, but there's not the mileage on the odometer to get under the surface. There are exceptions that prove the rule—Dickens wasn't bad at 23.”

Credits

References

External links

• Dick Wolf at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Wolf on NPR's Fresh Air (March 11, 2005)
• Behind the Scenes of Dick Wolf's "Nasty Boys"
• New York Times. "Dick Wolf Breaks and Enters With 'Law and Order' on NBC" by Bruce Weber. March 1, 1992.