David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots , The Thorn Birds , and North and South , and the theatrically-released films Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and L.A. Confidential . He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for his work producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as helping to bring the games there. His 1971 film (as executive producer) about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle , won an Academy Award .
13-564: Mel Stuart (born Stuart Solomon ; September 2, 1928 – August 9, 2012) was an American film director and producer who often worked with producer David L. Wolper , at whose production firm he worked for 17 years, before going freelance. Stuart was born Stuart Solomon . He was of Jewish background. Stuart directed the fantasy-musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He directed other features, including If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), One Is
26-740: A Writers Guild of America Award nomination for his screenplay. Fictional scientist Dr. Nils Hellstrom guides viewers throughout the film. He claims, on the basis of scientific-sounding theories, that insects will ultimately win the fight for survival on Earth because of their adaptability and ability to reproduce rapidly and that the human race will lose the fight largely because of excessive individualism . The film combines short clips from horror and science fiction movies with extraordinary camera sequences of butterflies, locusts, wasps, termites, ants, mayflies, other insects rarely seen before on film and insectivorous plants /insects. Technical advisers Roy Snelling and Charles Hogue were entomologists at
39-548: A Lonely Number (1972) and Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 (2000). Stuart also directed feature documentaries including the 1964 Oscar-nominated John F. Kennedy documentary Four Days in November and the 1973 concert film Wattstax . In addition he directed or produced over 180 films including movies of the week The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal , Bill , The Chisholms , and Ruby and Oswald ,
52-442: Is an American film released in 1971 which combines elements of documentary , horror and apocalyptic prophecy to present a gripping satirical depiction of the struggle for survival between humans and insects. It won both the 1972 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and BAFTA Award for Best Documentary . It was conceived and produced by David L. Wolper , directed by Walon Green and written by David Seltzer , who earned
65-607: The Hollywood Walk of Fame . Wolper died on August 10, 2010, of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease at his Beverly Hills home. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park 's Hollywood Hills cemetery. His company was involved in the following productions. He was a distributor of the early shows, and became an executive producer with The Race for Space in 1958. The Hellstrom Chronicle The Hellstrom Chronicle
78-472: The Chocolate Factory though only Peter was credited. Stuart and Dolin divorced in 1979. He married his second wife Roberta Silberman in 1985, and they stayed together until her death in 2011. On August 9, 2012, Stuart died at the age of 83 after suffering from skin cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his three children from his first marriage, Andrew, Madeleine, and Peter, Stuart
91-802: The Third Reich (TV) (1968), Appointment With Destiny (1971–73 TV series), Visions of Eight (1973), This Is Elvis (1981), Imagine: John Lennon (1988) and others. On March 13, 1974, one of his crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when their Sierra Pacific Airlines Corvair 440 slammed into the White Mountains shortly after takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California , killing all 35 on board, including 31 Wolper crew members. The filmed segment
104-631: The post-1970 library (along with Wolper's production company, Wolper Productions, now known as The Wolper Organization ) has been owned by Warner Bros. since November 1976. In 1969, Wolper received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . He won an Academy Award for the 1971 film The Hellstrom Chronicle , about the study of insects, which he executive produced. He also produced numerous documentaries and documentary series including The Rise and Fall of
117-586: The television series Ripley's Believe It or Not , and the documentaries The Making of the President 1960 , 1964 , and 1968 , The Hobart Shakespeareans , The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , Man Ray — The Prophet of the Avant-Garde , George Plimpton and the Philharmonic , and The Poet's View . He was also nominated for the made-for-TV production Bill , starring Mickey Rooney . He
130-605: Was also survived by two grandchildren, Maximilian Stuart and Eleanor Stuart. David L. Wolper Wolper was born in New York City, into an eastern European Jewish family, the son of Anna (née Fass) and Irving S. Wolper. He briefly attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa before transferring to the University of Southern California . Wolper directed the 1959 documentary The Race for Space , which
143-661: Was awarded an Emmy award, an Academy Award nomination, a Peabody , and numerous other awards. Stuart also served as president of the International Documentary Association for two years. Stuart was born to Edgar and Cecille Solomon, graduated from New York University in 1949, and worked for an advertising company. Stuart married his first wife Harriet Rosalind Dolin on August 12, 1956. They had three children: Madeline, Peter, and Andrew. Madeline and Peter made appearances in Willy Wonka &
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#1732781143422156-434: Was nominated for an Academy Award , and others including Biography (1961–63), The Making of the President 1960 (1963) and Four Days in November (1964). Wolper then sold his company to Metromedia for $ 3.6 million in 1964. In October 1968, he paid $ 750,000 to leave Metromedia and took six films projects with him. The pre-1968 library is owned by Cube Entertainment (formerly International Creative Exchange), while
169-738: Was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man . The cause of the crash remains unsolved. In 1984, he helped bring the Olympic Games to Los Angeles and produced the opening and closing ceremonies. He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards the following year. In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame . For his work on television, he had received his star on
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