Joseph Andrew "Drew" Casper was previously a Professor who worked at the School of Cinematic Arts as part of the University of Southern California. His area of research while both a student and later as a professor was American film from World War II to the present. [1] While a Ph.D. student at USC, Dr. Casper's mentor, Irwin Blacker, died suddenly and the Cinema department offered Dr. Casper a position. Casper rose to become the third-highest-paid person at USC. In the fall of 1997, the estate of Alfred Hitchcock and USC made Dr. Casper the first Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Professor for the Study of American Film. [1] He retired from his role at USC in December 2019 after 47 years amid a loud controversy about his conduct with undergraduate students. Casper was invited in the early 2000s to do approximately 20 DVD commentaries on films from the 1940s-60s. [2] He is the author of books about Vincente Minnelli, [3] Stanley Donen, a book on Postwar Hollywood 1946–1962., [4] and a volume called Hollywood Film, 1963-1976: Years of Revolution and Reaction. There are hardly any scholars [5] who have used his work in their scholarship outside of the undergraduates who were required to purchase his book to take his class.
