Randal Kleiser

Last updated
Randal Kleiser
Born
John Randal Kleiser

(1946-07-20) July 20, 1946 (age 77)
Alma mater University of Southern California
Occupation(s) Film director, screenwriter
Years active1962–present

John Randal Kleiser [1] (born July 20, 1946) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor, best known for directing the 1978 musical romantic-comedy film Grease .

Contents

Biography

John Randal Kleiser was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, the son of Harriet Kelly ( née Means) and Dr. John Raymond Kleiser. He has two brothers. [1] Kleiser attended Radnor High School. [2] [3]

As a freshman at the University of Southern California, he appeared in George Lucas' student film Freiheit . (Kleiser also lived in the house that Lucas was renting at the time.) [4] Kleiser graduated in 1968. [5] His award-winning Master's thesis film, the 1973 short Peege about a grandson's bond with his ailing grandmother, [6] launched his career and was selected for preservation by the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2007. [7] He also directed an animated short that year called Foot Fetish (which was later aired on Saturday Night Live a decade later). [8]

Kleiser directed several television movies in the mid-1970s, including Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1975), The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), which starred John Travolta, and the Emmy Award-winning The Gathering (1977). Kleiser was tapped to direct his first feature film, the 1978 film Grease , in large part because of Travolta's recommendation based on their work together on The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. [9]

Kleiser directed several more feature films, including The Blue Lagoon (1980) with Brooke Shields, Summer Lovers (1982) with Daryl Hannah, Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) with Jamie Lee Curtis, Flight of the Navigator (1986), featuring the first use of digital morphing in a film, Big Top Pee-wee (1988), White Fang (1991) and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992). In London, Kleiser directed the comedy Getting It Right (1989). [10] In 1996, he wrote and directed It's My Party . As a writer-producer, he was responsible for the surfing film North Shore (1987) for Universal Pictures. He also directed the thriller Shadow of Doubt (1998). In 1987, he had an agreement with upstart diversified film studio Management Company Entertainment Group to develop, direct and produce low-budget pictures that were financed by the studio, and he will shepherd indie projects of promising students and decided to build various international directors on its own. [11]

Working in 70mm 3-D, he directed Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (1995) for the Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris, re-teaming with most of the principal actors from Honey, I Blew Up the Kid .

Kleiser is openly gay. [12]

Filmography

Feature films

Filmmaking credits

YearTitle Director Producer Writer Notes
1976 Street People NoNoYesItalian: Gli esecutori
1978 Grease YesNoNo Directorial debut
1980 The Blue Lagoon YesYesNo
1982 Summer Lovers YesYesYes
1984 Grandview, U.S.A. YesNoNo
1986 Flight of the Navigator YesNoNo
1987 North Shore NoExecutiveStory
1988 Big Top Pee-wee YesNoNo
1989 Getting It Right YesYesNo
1991 White Fang YesNoNo
Return to the Blue Lagoon NoExecutiveNo
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid YesNoNo
1996 It's My Party YesYesYes
1998 Shadow of Doubt YesNoNo
1999How to Get ThereYesNoYes
2005 Love Wrecked YesNoNo
2006 Red Riding Hood YesNoNoAlso arranger of the song "Lil' Red Riding Hood"
2020 Life After the Navigator NoExecutiveNoDocumentary film

Acting credits

YearTitleRole
1981 Rich and Famous Literary Party Guest
1988 Big Top Pee-wee Popcorn vendor
1996 Cannes Man Himself
1998 Susan's Plan Doctor #1
1999 Crazy in Alabama Bob
2002 Circuit Doctor

Short films

Filmmaking credits

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
1973 Peege YesYesNoAlso editor
Foot FetishYesYesYesShortlisted for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
1994 Honey, I Shrunk the Audience YesNoNoTheme park film
2017The Speech JFK Never GaveYesYesYes
2019Defrost: The Virtual SeriesYesYesYes12-Episode VR Series
2019Grease XRYesNoNoVolumetric capture Short

Acting credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962The PursuitThe Pursuer
1964 Captain America vs. The MutantSteve Rogers / Captain America
1966 Freiheit Boy

Other credits

YearTitleRole
1967 Glut Editor
2001 The Princess and the Pea Production advisor
2015Arctic PlungeTechnical advisor

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
1974–1975 Marcus Welby, M.D. YesNoNo4 episodes
1975 Lucas Tanner YesNoNoEpisode: "Bonus Baby"
All Together NowYesNoNoTV movie
1975–1977 Starsky and Hutch YesNoNo3 episodes
1976 The Rookies YesNoNoEpisode: "From Out of the Darkness"
FamilyYesNoNo2 episodes
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway YesNoNoTV movie
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble YesNoNoTV movie
1977 ABC Weekend Specials YesYesYesEpisode: "Portrait of Grandpa Doc"; also editor
The Gathering YesNoNoTV movie
1995 New York News YesNoNoUnknown episodes
1999Royal StandardYesNoNoTV movie
2010The Nina Foch Course for Filmmakers and ActorsYesYesYes

Awards

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References

  1. 1 2 "Randal Kleiser Biography (1946-)". www.filmreference.com. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  2. "2006 Hall of Fame Inductions". Radnor High School . Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  3. Honeycutt, Kirk (1980-06-15). "Out of 'Grease' Into 'The Blue Lagoon'; 'The Blue Lagoon' (Published 1980)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  4. Pollock, Dale (1983). Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas. London: Elm Tree Books. ISBN   0-241-11034-3.
  5. Notable Alumni, USC School of Cinematic Arts Archived 2009-08-26 at the Wayback Machine .
  6. Peege (clip) , retrieved 2023-08-03
  7. "Librarian of Congress Announces National Film Registry Selections for 2007". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  8. "Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award 1973 |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  9. Klassen, Anna (August 27, 2015). "'Grease' Director Spills 15 Secrets From The Film". Bustle. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  10. Canby, Vincent (May 5, 1989). "Getting It Right (1989) Review/Film; An Innocent's Journey on the Rocky Road to Miss Right". The New York Times .
  11. "Kleiser to produce low-budget pictures for Management Co". Variety . 1987-10-14. p. 26.
  12. Cobb, J. Matthew (September 23, 2016). "Famed gay director Randal Kleiser talks semi-biographical 'It's My Party,' Out On Film". The Georgia Voice . Atlanta. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.