Irwin Winkler Biography

Irwin Winkler (born May 25, 1931) is an American film producer and director. He is the producer or director of 50 motion pictures, dating back to 1967's Double Trouble, starring Elvis Presley. The fourth film he produced, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), starring Jane Fonda, was nominated for nine Academy Awards. He won an Oscar for Best Picture for 1976's Rocky. As a producer, he has been nominated for Best Picture for three other films: Raging Bull, The Right Stuff, and Goodfellas.

Early life and education

Winkler was born to a Jewish family in New York City, to Sol and Anna Winkler. He received a BA from New York University in 1955, after serving in the U.S. Army.

Career

Winkler began producing films in partnership with Robert Chartoff, in the late 1960s. Their first effort (along with Judd Bernard), was John Boorman's thriller Point Blank (1967), largely ignored in its day but now regarded as a top film of the time. Adding Sydney Pollack to their production team for one project, they garnered critical acclaim for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969). Their next film, The Strawberry Statement (1970), won the Jury Prize at Cannes. Chartoff and Winkler achieved their greatest success yet with Rocky (1976), which earned the Academy Award as Best Picture. Subsequently, the producing duo picked up Best Picture Oscar nominations for Raging Bull (1980) and The Right Stuff (1983), their last project together before Winkler launched his solo career with the Revolution (1985).

Winkler produced such noteworthy features as Bertrand Tavernier's Round Midnight (1986) and back-to-back Costa-Gavras films, Betrayed (1988) and Music Box (1989), before receiving another Best Picture Oscar nomination for Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas (1990). He also returned to the franchise to oversee Rocky IV (1985) and Rocky V (1990), continuing the association forged with Sylvester Stallone on the first three Chartoff-Winkler productions.

Approaching the age of 60, Winkler moved into the director's chair, debuting with Guilty by Suspicion (1991), a drama (which he also scripted) about the Hollywood blacklist that starred Robert De Niro. His second feature, the unsuccessful 1992 remake of Night and the City, also starred De Niro. Winkler had better luck at the box office as writer-director of the Sandra Bullock vehicle The Net (1995), which spawned a series of the same name debuting on the USA Network in 1998.

Life as a House (2001), was a tale featuring a depressed dying man (Kevin Kline) who funnels his energies into rebuilding the dilapidated beach shack he inherited from his abusive father and, in the process, building bridges between himself and his disaffected son (Hayden Christensen). Receiving critical praise, Winkler re-teamed with Kline for the follow-up De-Lovely (2004), casting the actor as the lead in his biographical film of American composer Cole Porter centered on his unique relationship with his wife and muse (Ashley Judd).

As his directorial career continued, Winkler continued to produce his share of films as well, including The Shipping News (2001) and Enough (2002).

Filmography

As producer

• Double Trouble (1967)
• Blue (1968)
• The Split (1968)
• They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
• Leo the Last (1970)
• The Strawberry Statement (1970)
• Believe in Me (1971)
• The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971)
• The New Centurions (1972)
• Thumb Tripping (1972)
• The Mechanic (1972)
• Up the Sandbox (1972)
• Busting (1974)
• S*P*Y*S (1974)
• The Gambler (1974)
• Peeper (1975)
• Breakout (1975)
• Rocky (1976)
• Nickelodeon (1976)
• New York, New York (1977)
• Valentino (1977)
• Comes a Horseman (1978) (executive producer)
• Uncle Joe Shannon (1978)
• Rocky II (1979)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• True Confessions (1981)
• Rocky III (1982)
• Author! Author! (1982)
• The Right Stuff (1983)
• Scandal Sheet (1985) (TV)
• Rocky IV (1985)
• Revolution (1985)
• Round Midnight (1986)
• Betrayed (1988)
• Music Box (1989)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Rocky V (1990)
• Night and the City (1992)
• The Net (1995)
• The Juror (1996)
• At First Sight (1999)
• Life as a House (2001)
• The Shipping News (2001)
• Enough (2002)
• De-Lovely (2004)
• Home of the Brave (2006)
• Rocky Balboa (2006) (executive producer)
• Streets of Blood (2009) (executive producer)
• The Mechanic (2010)
• Trespass (2011)
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) (executive producer)
• The Gambler (2014)
• Survivor (2015)
• Creed (2015)
• Silence (2016)

As director

• Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
• Night and the City (1992)
• The Net (1995)
• At First Sight (1999)
• Life as a House (2001)
• De-Lovely (2004)
• Home of the Brave (2006)

Honors

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Irwin Winkler has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard.

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Film	Result
1977	Academy Awards	Best Picture	Rocky	Won
1981	Academy Awards	Best Picture	Raging Bull	Nominated
1984	Academy Awards	Best Picture	The Right Stuff	Nominated
1991	BAFTA Awards	Best Film	Goodfellas	Won
1991	Academy Awards	Best Picture	Goodfellas	Nominated
1991	Cannes Film Festival	Palme d'Or	Guilty by Suspicion	Nominated
1999	Hollywood Film Festival	Hollywood Film Award	Outstanding Achievement in Producing	Won
2001	Aspen Filmfest	Audience Favorite Feature	Life as a House	Won