Michael Gruskoff is an American film producer.
Life and career
Born to a
American Jews family,
[Verini, Bob. Variety: "Secret lunch honors Ladd" Variety (September 27, 2007)] Gruskoff started his career in the New York mailroom of the William Morris Agency, and then took a job with Creative Management Associates, where he represented
Dennis Hopper,
Peter Fonda,
Robert Redford,
Natalie Wood,
Faye Dunaway,
James Coburn,
Steve McQueen,
Peter Sellers,
Al Ruddy, and
Irwin Winkler.
Although
Ned Tanen of Universal Pictures asked him to set up and run an independent film division, he instead accepted a three picture production contract. Working with
Douglas Trumbull,
Michael Cimino,
Sam Shepard, and
Steven Bochco, he independently developed three low budget scripts:
The Last Movie,
Silent Running, and
Conquering Horse, a Sioux language script which never made it to film but was the precursor to
Dances with Wolves.
In 1974, he produced
Young Frankenstein, thanks to his earlier relationship with
Mel Brooks, with whom he worked at William Morris, and
Mike Medavoy, who he worked with at CMA.
In 1999, he was hired by Nick Wechsler and Keith Addis to work for their production company, Industry Entertainment, as an in-house producer and mentor to their junior producers including Geyer Kosinski,
David Seltzer, Margaret Riley, Rosalie Swedlin, Julia Chasman,
Marc Evans, and David Carmel.
[Fleming, Michael Variety: "Industry imports veteran Gruskoff - Management firm ramping production" Variety (April 23, 1999)]
Gruskoff won a Cesar Award for the film Quest for Fire.
Filmography
Producer
-
Silent Running (1972)
-
Young Frankenstein (1974)
-
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975)
-
Lucky Lady (1975)
-
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
-
My Favorite Year (1982)
-
Until September (1984)
-
Love at Stake (1987)
-
Article 99 (1992)
-
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
-
Puss 'n Boots (2006)
Executive Producer
-
The Last Movie (1971)
-
Quest for Fire (1981)
-
Pink Cadillac (1989)
-
Vivaldi (2006)
External links
