Jerry Zucker

American filmmaker (b. 1950)

This article is about the film director. For the businessman, see Jerry Zucker (businessman).

Jerry Zucker

Zucker on November 4, 2006

Born|

Jerry Gordon Zucker

(1950-03-11) March 11, 1950 (age 75)

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.

Occupation(s)| Film director, producer, screenwriter
Years active| 1976–present
Spouse|

Janet Krausz

(m. 1987)​

Children| 2
Mother| Charlotte Zucker
Family| David Zucker (brother)

Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one third of 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).[1]

## Early life

[edit]

Zucker was born to a Jewish family[2] in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Charlotte A. (Lefstein) (d. 2007) and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer.[3][4] He graduated from Shorewood High School.[5] His paternal grandfather was Leonard Zucker who emigrated from Russia to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.

## Career

[edit]

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.[6]

In 1990, he lent his directorial skills to the dramatic genre with Ghost, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. 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.[7]

## Personal life

[edit]

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

[edit]

### Film

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

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

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

1976  | Big John, Little John | No  | Yes  | No  | writer of episode "Abracadabra"
1982  | Police Squad! | Yes  | Yes  | Executive  | director and writer of episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)"
1987  | Our Planet Tonight | No  | No  | Executive  | TV movie
2013  | Dear Dumb Diary | No  | No  | Executive
2019  | Late Night Berlin | No  | No  | Creative  | 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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Jerry Zucker-Biography". Yahoo! Movies.
2. ^ Desser, David; Friedman, Lester D. (2004). American Jewish Filmmakers. University of Illinois Press. p. 166\. ISBN 9780252071539.
3. ^ David Zucker Biography (1947-)
4. ^ "Charlotte Zucker Obituary (2007) - Mequon, WI - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel". Legacy.com.
5. ^ "25 years and still laughing: 'Airplane!' maintains its cruising altitude with a non-stop zany attitude" Archived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, 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."
6. ^ "Zucker Bros. Sign A 2-Year Par Pact". Variety. 1987-10-07. pp. 4, 119.
7. ^ Kaltenbach, Chris (August 22, 2001). "Jerry Zucker Still Flies High on 'Airplane!'". Los Angeles Times.

## External links

[edit]

* Jerry Zucker at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker

* David Zucker
* Jim Abrahams
* Jerry Zucker

Collaborative|

* The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977, writers only)
* Airplane! (1980)
* Police Squad! (1982)
* "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)"
* Top Secret! (1984)
* Ruthless People (1986)
* The Naked Gun (1988–1994)
* From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
* The Smell of Fear (1991)
* The Final Insult (1994)

Solo|

| David Zucker|

* For Goodness Sake (1993)
* BASEketball (1998)
* My Boss's Daughter (2003)
* Scary Movie 3 (2003)
* Scary Movie 4 (2006)
* An American Carol (2008)

|

Jim Abrahams|

* Big Business (1988)
* Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990)
* Hot Shots! (1991)
* Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
* ...First Do No Harm (1997)
* Mafia! (1998)

Jerry Zucker|

* Ghost (1990)
* First Knight (1995)
* Rat Race (2001)

* v
* t
* e

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

Adapted Drama
(1969–1983)|

* Waldo Salt (1969)
* Robert Anderson (1970)
* Ernest Tidyman (1971)
* Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo (1972)
* Waldo Salt & Norman Wexler (1973)
* Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo (1974)
* Bo Goldman & Lawrence Hauben (1975)
* William Goldman (1976)
* Alvin Sargent (1977)
* Oliver Stone (1978)
* Robert Benton (1979)
* Alvin Sargent (1980)
* Ernest Thompson (1981)
* Costa-Gavras & Donald E. Stewart (1982)
* Julius J. Epstein (1983)

Adapted Comedy
(1969–1983)|

* Arnold Schulman (1969)
* Ring Lardner Jr. (1970)
* John Paxton (1971)
* Jay Presson Allen (1972)
* Alvin Sargent (1973)
* Lionel Chetwynd & Mordecai Richler (1974)
* Neil Simon (1975)
* Blake Edwards & Frank Waldman (1976)
* Larry Gelbart (1977)
* Elaine May & Warren Beatty (1978)
* Jerzy Kosiński (1979)
* Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker (1980)
* Gerald Ayres (1981)
* Blake Edwards (1982)
* James L. Brooks (1983)

Adapted Screenplay
(1984–present)|

* Bruce Robinson (1984)
* Richard Condon & Janet Roach (1985)
* Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1986)
* Steve Martin (1987)
* Christopher Hampton (1988)
* Alfred Uhry (1989)
* Michael Blake (1990)
* Ted Tally (1991)
* Michael Tolkin (1992)
* Steven Zaillian (1993)
* Eric Roth (1994)
* Emma Thompson (1995)
* Billy Bob Thornton (1996)
* Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgeland (1997)
* Scott Frank (1998)
* Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (1999)
* Stephen Gaghan (2000)
* Akiva Goldsman (2001)
* David Hare (2002)
* Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (2003)
* Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (2004)
* Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (2005)
* William Monahan (2006)
* Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (2007)
* Simon Beaufoy (2008)
* Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (2009)
* Aaron Sorkin (2010)
* Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon (2011)
* Chris Terrio (2012)
* Billy Ray (2013)
* Graham Moore (2014)
* Adam McKay & Charles Randolph (2015)
* Eric Heisserer (2016)
* James Ivory (2017)
* Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty (2018)
* Taika Waititi (2019)
* Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern & Nina Pedrad (2020)
* Sian Heder (2021)
* Sarah Polley (2022)
* Cord Jefferson (2023)
* RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes (2024)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Korea
* Poland
* Israel

Academics|

* CiNii

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC
* Yale LUX

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