Television and film producer known for Roots, The Thorn Birds and Willy Wonka
David L Wolper, who has died of heart disease aged 82, called his 2003 autobiography simply Producer. The modest, unadorned title gives no hint of the long and varied career it covers. According to Wolper: "A producer is a person who dreams. Good producers make dreams come true."
The word "producer" evokes thoughts of a crass, cigar-chomping entrepreneur, more interested in profit than art. Wolper both conformed to the stereotype and confounded it. His flamboyant showman side was on display with his staging of the spectacular Hollywood-style opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which consisted of a four-hour musical extravaganza, with 84 pianists in white tuxedos who played George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on white grand pianos, surrounded by 300 dancers. In 1986, he produced a celebration of the 100th anniversary and restoration of the Statue of Liberty,...
David L Wolper, who has died of heart disease aged 82, called his 2003 autobiography simply Producer. The modest, unadorned title gives no hint of the long and varied career it covers. According to Wolper: "A producer is a person who dreams. Good producers make dreams come true."
The word "producer" evokes thoughts of a crass, cigar-chomping entrepreneur, more interested in profit than art. Wolper both conformed to the stereotype and confounded it. His flamboyant showman side was on display with his staging of the spectacular Hollywood-style opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which consisted of a four-hour musical extravaganza, with 84 pianists in white tuxedos who played George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on white grand pianos, surrounded by 300 dancers. In 1986, he produced a celebration of the 100th anniversary and restoration of the Statue of Liberty,...
- 8/16/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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