- Irvin Kershner
Infobox Person
name=Irvin Kershner
caption= Irvin Kershner
birth_date=Birth date and age|1923|4|29|mf=y
birth_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
death_date=
death_place=Irvin Kershner (born
April 29 ,1923 inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania ), is an Americanfilm director and occasional actor, best known for directing "" and "RoboCop 2 ".Background
Irvin Kershner's background is a mixture of music and art. The study of music (
violin ,viola , and composition) was the most important activity of his early years. He attended theTemple University - Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Later, he went to New York and Provincetown to study with the famous painting teacherHans Hofmann . He then moved to Los Angeles where he studied photography at theArt Center College of Design .He began his film career at the
University of Southern California 's School of Cinema, teaching photography and taking cinema courses underSlavko Vorkapić , a montage artist and then dean of the School. Kershner then accepted a job as still photographer on a State Department film project inIran under thePoint Four Program , which ultimately led to an assignment as a director and cinematographer of documentaries in Iran,Greece andTurkey with theUnited States Information Service .When he returned to the States, he and the late Paul Coates developed "Confidential File", a documentary television series. Kershner worked as writer, director, cinematographer and editor. He later developed and directed the television series "
The Rebel ", as well as the pilots for "Peyton Place", "Cain's One Hundred ", "Philip Marlowe ", and others.He then moved on to feature films, some of the best known of which are: "Hoodlum Priest" which starred
Don Murray ; "The Luck of Ginger Coffey " with Robert Shaw and Mare Ure; "A Fine Madness " (withSean Connery ,Joanne Woodward andJean Seberg ); "The Flim-Flam Man " starringGeorge C. Scott ; "Up the Sandbox " withBarbra Streisand ; "The Return of a Man Called Horse " starringRichard Harris ; the critically acclaimed TV movie "Raid on Entebbe" which was nominated for nineEmmys , including Best Direction; "Eyes of Laura Mars " starringFaye Dunaway andTommy Lee Jones ."The Empire Strikes Back"
Kershner is best known as the director of the hit 1980 film ', the first sequel to the wildly successful '. Kershner was a surprising choice for a blockbuster movie; according to him, when he asked producer
George Lucas "Of all the younger guys around, all the hot-shots, why me?", Lucas replied, "Well, because you know everything aHollywood director is supposed to know, but you're not Hollywood." Of his cinematic style, Kershner has said, "I like to fill up the frame with [the characters'] faces. There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face." [Director's commentary on the "Empire Strikes Back" DVD.]Kershner considers himself an internationalist. He has said "I've been a student of Christianity. I've been interested in the historical basis of the Muslim religion. I studied Buddhism. I don't think of myself as a Jew except by birth, as I don't follow the customs. I'm a Jew because other people consider me so. My pride is in being international." ["Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of The Empire Strikes Back" by Alan Arnold (1980, Sphere Books) p.238.] He has also said:"I'm afraid of patriotism. The world has gotten very small and cosmic awareness makes patriotism seem an adolescent notion, which is why immature minds are easily manipulated by it. I really believe that patriotism in its generally accepted sense means accepting social prejudices, and the fewer we have of them the freer we shall be." ["Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of The Making of The Empire Strikes Back" by Alan Arnold (1980, Sphere Books) p.238.]
Later work
Post-"Empire", Kershner has directed "
Never Say Never Again " (Sean Connery 's return to the role ofJames Bond ); theHBO film "Travelling Man" starringJohn Lithgow andJonathan Silverman ; for which Kershner was nominated for anACE Award ; and "RoboCop 2 ". He has also directed several episodes of the television series "seaQuest DSV ", and he made his debut as an actor in the controversial 1988Martin Scorsese film, "The Last Temptation of Christ ", playingZebedee , the father of the apostles James and John. He played a film director inSteven Seagal 's "On Deadly Ground ".Kershner is currently working on a variety of new projects, both in photography and film. These include a variety of photo series, as well as two films. He continues to lecture at universities and festivals throughout the U.S. He is a faculty member at the
Master of Professional Writing Program at theUniversity of Southern California . [irvinkershner.com Kershner's publicity biography.]Filmography
*"
Stakeout on Dope Street " (1958)
*"The Young Captives " (1959)
*"Face in the Rain " (1963)
*"The Luck of Ginger Coffey " (1964)
*"A Fine Madness " (1966)
*"Loving" (1970)
*"Up the Sandbox " (1972)
*"S*P*Y*S " (1974)
*"The Return of a Man Called Horse " (1976)
*"Raid on Entebbe " (1977)
*"The Eyes of Laura Mars" (1978)
*"" (1980)
*"Never Say Never Again " (1983)
*"The Last Temptation of Christ (Actor)" (1988)
*"RoboCop 2 " (1990)References
External links
*imdb name|id=0449984|name=Irvin Kershner
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