Richard Donner

Richard Donner (born April 24, 1930, New York City, New York, U.S.—died July 5, 2021) American film director who emerged in the 1980s as one of Hollywood’s most reliable makers of action blockbusters, most notably the Lethal Weapon films.

Early work

Donner acted in Off-Broadway productions before moving to California, where he began directing industrial films and television commercials. In the early 1960s he graduated to TV series, helming episodes of such shows as Wanted: Dead or Alive and Route 66. In 1961 he directed his first feature film, a Cold War drama called X-15, which starred one of the cinema’s least likely couples, Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore. Donner then returned to television, and his credits during this time included Twilight Zone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Gilligan’s Island, and Perry Mason.

(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)

In 1968 Donner helmed his second film, Salt and Pepper (1968), a lighthearted comedy featuring Sammy Davis, Jr., and Peter Lawford as British club owners in trouble with the mob; the movie was a minor hit. After reteaming with Bronson for the comedy Lola (1970), Donner again focused on TV. In addition to working on various shows, he also began directing made-for-television films, including Sarah T.—Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975), which starred Linda Blair in the title role.

In 1976 Donner had his big-screen breakthrough with The Omen, a violent supernatural thriller that starred Gregory Peck as an American diplomat whose son, Damien—switched at birth upon the suggestion of a priest—turns out to be the Antichrist. It was a critical and commercial success, and Donner’s focus shifted to films. For his next project, he accepted the high-profile assignment of directing Superman (1978), which starred Christopher Reeve in the title role, Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, and Gene Hackman as archvillain Lex Luthor. The action movie was a worldwide box-office hit. Donner was signed to direct the sequel (1980) and was nearing completion when he was fired because of differences with the producers. His replacement, Richard Lester, finished the movie and reshot a number of earlier scenes. In 2006 Donner was permitted to release his version, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

Films of the 1980s

Donner began the 1980s with several box-office disappointments, notably the Richard Pryor–Jackie Gleason comedy The Toy (1982) and the sword-and-sorcery fantasy Ladyhawke (1985), with Rutger Hauer, Matthew Broderick, and Michelle Pfeiffer. In 1985, however, he had another hit with the family-adventure The Goonies, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. It was a lively modern-day treasure hunt with an ethnically mixed, gender-balanced juvenile cast. Donner found even greater success with the blockbuster Lethal Weapon (1987). A spin on the mismatched-partners chestnut—Danny Glover played a by-the-book police detective with a loving family, and Mel Gibson was a widower with a suicidal bent who breaks every rule for the sheer joy of it—that reveled in its spectacular action sequences, it was one of the year’s biggest hits and started the Lethal Weapon franchise.

Donner next made Scrooged (1988), an updated version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, starring Bill Murray as a television mogul badly in need of redemption. Despite an array of notable guest stars, it was not well received at the time, though it later acquired a cult following among fans of dark holiday films. Donner closed out the 1980s with Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), which added Joe Pesci and again featured Glover, Gibson, and numerous stunts and explosions.

The 1990s and beyond

The well-intentioned Radio Flyer (1992) may have been Donner’s attempt to keep himself from being typecast as an action director, but its disturbing story about two abused boys who retreat into fantasy never struck the right tone, and neither critics nor audiences gave it a home. By contrast, his Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) became one of the year’s highest-grossing films. He reteamed with Gibson for the amiable but rather bloated Maverick (1994), which profited from the presence of James Garner, the original Bret Maverick, and Jodie Foster. Though the film needed more substance from William Goldman’s anachronistic screenplay, it still earned some $100 million.

Assassins (1995) was minor fare, presenting Sylvester Stallone as the world’s number one assassin, which makes him a target for an up-and-coming hit man (Antonio Banderas). Far better was Conspiracy Theory (1997), which featured Gibson as a New York cabbie who sees conspiracies at every turn. He enlists the help of an attorney (played by Julia Roberts) when it appears that his paranoia might be grounded in reality. Donner’s last film of the 1990s was Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). In addition to series regulars Glover and Gibson, the action thriller featured Chris Rock as a rookie detective and Jet Li as the leader of a deadly Chinese gang. Although not well received by critics, it proved popular with moviegoers.

In 2003 Donner helmed the science-fiction adventure Timeline, which was based on a Michael Crichton best seller about a time machine. He then made 16 Blocks (2006), a scaled-back crime drama featuring Bruce Willis as a burned-out detective who has to transport a witness (an effective Mos Def) a mere 16 blocks to the courthouse where he will testify. The seemingly simple task becomes complicated, however, as numerous armed and well-trained gangsters intervene. Donner was never known for working on a small scale, but 16 Blocks suggests that he might have had a knack left unexplored during his career.