Joel Silver

Joel Silver

Silver at the Tribeca Film Festival in May 2008 for the premiere of Speed Racer, which he produced
Born July 14, 1952
South Orange, New Jersey, United States
Occupation Film producer
Spouse(s) Karyn Fields (1999–present; 1 child)

Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer, known for action films like Lethal Weapon, Die Hard and The Matrix trilogy. He is owner of Silver Pictures and co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment. He has been a rival to Michael Eisner, former C.E.O of The Walt Disney Company, since their days at Paramount Pictures.

Life and career

Silver grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive.[1] He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey,He finished his undergraduate studies at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, where he eventually became president of motion pictures for the company. He earned his first screen credit as the associate producer on The Warriors and, with Gordon, produced 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire, and Brewster's Millions. In 1985, he formed Silver Pictures and produced successful action films such as Commando (1985), the Lethal Weapon franchise, the first two films of the Die Hard series, and the The Matrix franchise of action films.

Silver appears on-screen at the beginning of Who Framed Roger Rabbit as Raoul J. Raoul, the director of the animated short Something's Cookin.

Silver directed "Split Personality", (1992), an episode of the HBO horror anthology Tales from the Crypt. He currently runs two production companies, Silver Pictures, and Dark Castle Entertainment, co-owned by Robert Zemeckis.

On July 10, 1999, Silver married his production assistant, Karyn Fields.

Frank Lloyd Wright houses

Silver is well known as an aficionado of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1984, he bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and made considerable investments to restore it to the original condition. The Storer House's squarish relief ornament then became the company logo of Silver Pictures. Silver sold it in 2002 for $2.9 million. In 1986, he purchased the long-neglected C. Leigh Stevens Auldbrass Plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina, and has been restoring it since then.[2]

Filmography

References

  1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/52/Joel-Silver.html
  2. Lee, Matt; Lee, Ted (November 30, 2003), "Auldbrass Wasn't Rebuilt in a Day", New York Times

External links

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