Date of Birth: July 20, 1946
A graduate of USC Film School, Randal Kleiser got his start as a director by helming episodes of Marcus Welby, M.D. and Starsky & Hutch before hitting a box office bonanza with his first feature, Grease. His vibrant direction perfectly captured the pep of the period -- and audiences, too.
Young love was again the theme of his next film, the unbelievably shallow but very pretty Blue Lagoon (starring Brook Shields). Following that up with two more dull coming-of-age flicks, Summer Lovers (which Kleiser also wrote) and Grandview U.S.A., Kleiser was pretty much dismissed by Hollywood.
So it came as quite a shock to the film industry when, in 1995, Kleiser wrote, directed, and produced It's My Party -- a searing, highly personal drama about an AIDS victim's decision to take his own life, before the disease can.
People were amazed that the director of such cinematic cotton candy as Big-Top Pee Wee and Honey, I Blew Up The Kid could create a film that critics compared favourably to Philadelphia and ...And The Band Played On. The film has rightly won Kleiser a new measure of respect.
Filmography
It's My Party (also producer and screenplay) (1996)
Honey, I Blew Up The Kid (1992)
White Fang (1991)
Return To The Blue Lagoon (executive producer only) (1991)
Getting It Right (also producer) (1989)
Big Top Pee-Wee (1988)
Street People (screenwriter only) (1976)
North Shore (executive producer and story) (1987)
Flight Of The Navigator (1986)
Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)
Summer Lovers (also screenplay) (1982)
The Blue Lagoon (also producer) (1980)
Grease (1978)