Roger Birnbaum (born November 14, 1950) is an American film producer who owns the company Spyglass Entertainment, and was co-CEO and co-chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His two greatest box office hits as producer have been Rush Hour 2 and The Tourist which grossed US$347,325,802 and US$278,346,189 worldwide respectively.[2][3] In 2016, he produced The Magnificent Seven.
He has since founded two production companies, Pin High Productions and Cave 76 Productions.[4][5]
Early life[]
Birnbaum was born to a Jewish family[6] in Teaneck, New Jersey,[7] the son of Arlene (née Steinlauf) and Norman Birnbaum.[6] His father was a World War II veteran who went into the embroidery business with his father after the war, and used his profits in 1967 to build the Stonehenge, a residential building in New Jersey.[6] Birnbaum graduated from Teaneck High School[7] and attended the University of Denver.[8]
Personal life[]
His first wife was Pamela West;[9] they had one daughter Claire Birnbaum Block (born 1987).[10] He married then-restaurant guest relations manager Leslie Lopez in 2013.[11][12]
He was previously in a seven-year relationship with actress Teri Garr.[13]
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | When Your Lover Leaves | producer |
| 1985 | Scandal Sheet | producer |
| The Sure Thing | producer | |
| 1987 | Who's That Girl | producer |
| Bay Coven | executive producer | |
| 1988 | Rain Man | special thanks |
| 1993 | The Three Musketeers | producer |
| 1994 | Angie | executive producer |
| Angels in the Outfield | producer | |
| A Low Down Dirty Shame | producer | |
| 1995 | Houseguest | producer |
| The Jerky Boys: The Movie | producer | |
| Heavyweights | producer | |
| Tall Tale | producer | |
| While You Were Sleeping | producer | |
| The Big Green | producer | |
| Dead Presidents | special thanks | |
| Powder | producer | |
| 1996 | Before and After | executive producer |
| Celtic Pride | producer | |
| First Kid | producer | |
| The Rich Man's Wife | producer | |
| Maximum Risk | executive producer | |
| 1997 | Metro | producer |
| The Beautician and the Beast | executive producer | |
| Tom God Freeze Hold | executive producer | |
| Grosse Point Blank | producer | |
| Gone Fishin' | producer | |
| G.I. Jane | producer | |
| Washington Square | producer | |
| RocketMan | producer | |
| Angels in the Endzone | executive producer | |
| Flash | executive producer | |
| 1998 | Overnight Delivery | executive producer |
| Six Days, Seven Nights | producer | |
| Simon Birch | producer | |
| Rush Hour | producer | |
| Holy Man | producer | |
| 1999 | Inspector Gadget | producer |
| 2000 | Angels in the Infield | executive producer |
| Keeping the Faith | executive producer | |
| Shanghai Noon | producer | |
| Unbreakable | executive producer | |
| 2001 | Rush Hour 2 | producer |
| Out Cold | executive producer | |
| 2002 | The Count of Monte Cristo | producer |
| Dragonfly | producer | |
| Abandon | producer | |
| Reign of Fire | producer | |
| 2003 | Criminology 101 | executive producer |
| The Recruit | producer | |
| Shanghai Knights | producer | |
| Inspector Gadget 2 | executive producer | |
| Bruce Almighty | executive producer | |
| Seabiscuit | executive producer | |
| One Love | executive producer | |
| 2004 | The Perfect Score | producer |
| Connie and Carla | producer | |
| The Ranch | executive producer | |
| Mr. 3000 | producer | |
| Weekends | executive producer | |
| 2005 | The Pacifier | producer |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | producer | |
| The Legend of Zorro | executive producer | |
| Memoirs of a Geisha | executive producer | |
| 2006 | Eight Below | executive producer |
| Stay Alive | executive producer | |
| Stick It | executive producer | |
| 2007 | The Lookout | producer |
| The Invisible | producer | |
| Evan Almighty | producer | |
| Rush Hour 3 | producer | |
| Underdog | producer | |
| Balls of Fury | producer | |
| 2008 | 27 Dresses | producer |
| Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | executive producer | |
| The Ruins | executive producer | |
| The Happening | executive producer | |
| The Love Guru | executive producer | |
| Wanted | executive producer | |
| Ghost Town | executive producer | |
| Flash of Genius | producer | |
| Four Christmases | producer | |
| 2009 | G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra | executive producer |
| Invictus | executive producer | |
| 2010 | Leap Year | producer |
| Dinner for Schmucks | executive producer | |
| The Tourist | producer | |
| 2011 | No Strings Attached | executive producer |
| Footloose | executive producer | |
| 2012 | The Vow | producer |
| 2013 | G.I. Joe: Retaliation | executive producer |
| 2014 | RoboCop | executive producer |
| 2016 | The Magnificent Seven | producer |
| 2018 | Death Wish | producer |
| 2019 | Glass | executive producer |
| The Hustle | producer | |
| Know Your Enemy | executive producer |
- ↑ "Roger Birnbaum Biography (1950?-)". http://www.filmreference.com/film/53/Roger-Birnbaum.html. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- ↑ "The Tourist". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tourist.htm.
- ↑ "Rush Hour 2". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rushhour2.htm. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ↑ "Executive Suite: Inside Roger Birnbaum's Pin High Productions Office". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/executive-suite-inside-roger-birnbaums-925140/1-roger-birnbaum. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
- ↑ "ABOUT US". http://cave76productions.com/about-us.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Norman Birnbaum - Obituary", The New York Times, republished at legacy.com, October 2, 2007.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Spelling, Ian (June 1, 2011). "Let the Lion Roar: Teaneck native Roger Birnbaum shines brightly in Hollywood". (201) magazine; Bergen.com. http://www.bergen.com/othernews/Let_the_Lion_Roar_Teaneck_native_Roger_Birnbaum_shines_brightly_in_Hollywood.html. "Much of the producer’s touch, the instinct that drives Birnbaum to financially back a script or to help nurture a pitch into a script and then into a feature, and his overall taste as a filmmaker, can be traced back to his formative years in Teaneck. He was raised there and attended Teaneck High School."
- ↑ "Advisory Board Biographies". Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television and New Media, University of California, Santa Barbara. Archived from the original on March 5, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080305021146/http://www.cftnm.ucsb.edu/people/advisory_bios.html.
- ↑ "Lorand West Obituary", Los Angeles Times, republished online at legacy.com, July 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Going Steady". issuu.com; C Magazine. January 1, 2013. p. 114. https://issuu.com/cdigital/docs/78. Retrieved January 29, 2018. "Claire Birnbaum and Eric Block ... husband and wife... Roger Birnbaum (then co-CEO of MGM) gave away his little girl..."
- ↑ THR Staff. "Warner Bros.' Courtney Simmons Weds, 'CSI:NY' Actor A.J. Buckley Engaged: Hitched, Hatched, Hired", The Hollywood Reporter, January 10, 2013. Retrieved on January 29, 2018. “Producer Roger Birnbaum became engaged to ... Leslie Lopez ... on Dec. 15”
- ↑ "41st AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Mel Brooks - Red Carpet". June 6, 2013. http://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/leslie-lopez-birnbaum-and-ceo-chairman-sony-pictures-news-photo/170087119?#leslie-lopez-birnbaum-and-ceo-chairman-sony-pictures-entertainment-picture-id170087119. Retrieved January 29, 2018. "Leslie Lopez Birnbaum ... and Roger Birnbaum"
- ↑ Garr, Teri. "Is Teri Garr Serious When She Says She Isn't Serious? On Tour, The Actress Drops Her Comedic Guard", Chicago Tribune, October 30, 1988. “Well, I lived with two men, one for seven years, the other for five. I was with Birnbaum (Roger Birnbaum, an independent producer) for seven. That was like a marriage.”