 |
Ron Underwood | |
|---|---|
 Underwood in 2006 | |
| Born | Ronald Brian Underwood November 6, 1953 Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Occupation(s) | Film and television director |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse | Sandy Underwood |
| Children | Larissa, Lana, Lauren |
Ronald Brian Underwood (born November 6, 1953) is an American film and television director, known for directing such films as Tremors (1990), City Slickers (1991), Heart and Souls (1993), and Mighty Joe Young (1998).
Underwood was born November 6, 1953, in Glendale, California. In school he lived in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, as an AFS Intercultural Programs exchange student. After graduating from high school, he briefly attended Occidental College as a pre-med student, but transferred to the USC School of Cinema (now USC School of Cinematic Arts) after deciding to become a filmmaker. Underwood majored in cinema with a minor in anthropology. During a summer break while at USC, he directed the first film produced about the sport of hang gliding. "Hang Gliding: The New Freedom" was distributed by Paramount Communications, a short film division of Paramount Pictures.
Upon completion of his fellowship at the American Film Institute, Underwood began working as a staff director for Barr Films, a company specializing in the production of educational films. Underwood directed over one hundred short films, including an adaptation of the Kurt Vonnegut short story, "Deer in the Works", starring Dennis Dugan. While directing and producing short films for the educational market, Underwood pursued work in the motion picture industry. One of the first movies Underwood worked on was Futureworld (1976) as a production assistant. The film starred Blythe Danner and Peter Fonda, actors he would later direct in 2004. During the filming of Futureworld, one of his tasks was to babysit a young Gwyneth Paltrow while her mother, Ms. Danner, was shooting. Soon after Underwood served as the location manager on the Peter Hyams directed motion picture, Capricorn One (1978). Another early job was acting as assistant director to first-time director David Schmoeller on Tourist Trap , a low-budget horror film. After this he continued to direct and produce educational films and children's television for the next several years. In 1986 Underwood established himself as a director when his live action/stop motion film adaptation of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle won a Peabody Award, which was followed two years later by the sequel Runaway Ralph , for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination.
Following his critically acclaimed venture into children's television, Underwood moved into directing feature films. His first effort was Tremors [1] starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire in her acting debut. Written and produced by his friends Brent Maddock & S. S. Wilson, it was released by Universal Studios in 1990. The film was well received by the critics and later established itself as a cult classic.
Underwood received his first taste of commercial success with 1991's City Slickers , which starred Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby and Jack Palance, who won an Academy Award for his performance. The film made $179m worldwide with a budget of only $27m. It was the tenth most successful film released in 1991 (the fifth most successful in the US). His next film, also written by Maddock & Wilson, Heart and Souls (1993), was again well-received by critics but struggled at the box office (making a total of $16m in the US). It starred Robert Downey, Jr., Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Charles Grodin, Tom Sizemore, Elisabeth Shue and David Paymer. He followed this with Speechless (1994), written by Robert King and starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Christopher Reeve.
Given the opportunity to direct a big-budget film by Walt Disney Pictures in 1998, he was asked to direct Mighty Joe Young , a remake of the 1949 RKO film. The film, starring Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron in her first lead role, was nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects and featured some of the most sophisticated visual effects seen in film up to that point, paving the way for later ape films like Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005). The special effects drove production costs to around $90m.
Following Mighty Joe Young, Underwood began work on the Eddie Murphy fronted The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The film also starred Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano and Pam Grier. The film was greeted with poor reception and became a massive box office disaster.
Underwood returned to his roots, directing both low-budget films and television. He directed Stealing Sinatra (2003) for Showtime, for which William H. Macy received an Emmy nomination, Back When We Were Grownups (2004) based on the Anne Tyler novel which garnered star Blythe Danner a nomination for an Emmy, and In the Mix (2005), starring R&B singer Usher and Chazz Palminteri for Lions Gate Entertainment. He has directed many episodic television dramas, including episodes of Monk , Boston Legal , Ugly Betty , Heroes , Grey's Anatomy , Burn Notice , Once Upon a Time , Desperate Housewives , Nashville , Scandal , Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , The Good Fight , Big Shot , Fear the Walking Dead , Evil , Watson and Elsbeth .
Short film
Director
Other credits
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Futureworld | Production assistant |
| 1978 | Capricorn One | Location manager |
| 1979 | Tourist Trap | First assistant director |
| 1986 | Crawlspace | Associate producer |
| 1996 | Tremors 2: Aftershocks | Executive producer |
| Year | Title | Episode(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | ABC Weekend Special | "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" |
| "Runaway Ralph" | ||
| 2003 | Monk | "Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater" |
| "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico" | ||
| 2004 | Boston Legal | "Change of Course" |
| "The Ass Fat Jungle" | ||
| 2007 | Reaper | "Magic" |
| "My Brothers's Reaper" | ||
| "Dirty Sexy Mongol" | ||
| 2008 | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | "Falling in Love" |
| "What Have You Done to Me?" | ||
| "I Feel Sick" | ||
| Ugly Betty | "Ugly Berry" | |
| "Zero Worship" | ||
| Eli Stone | "Owner of a Lonely Heart" | |
| "One More Try" | ||
| 2009 | Make It or Break It | "Where's Kaylie?" |
| Drop Dead Diva | "The 'F' Word" | |
| "Dead Model Walking" | ||
| 2010 | Heroes | "Chapter Twelve: 'Upon This Rock'" |
| Happy Town | "Questions and Antlers" | |
| No Ordinary Family | "No Ordinary Vigilante" | |
| Hellcats | "Worried Baby Blues" | |
| "Finish What We Started" | ||
| Chaos | "Song of the North" | |
| "Love and Rockets" | ||
| "Mincemeat" | ||
| 2011 | Necessary Roughness | "Anchor Management" |
| Harry's Law | "American Girl" | |
| "The Whole Truth" | ||
| 2011–2013 | Castle | "Food to Die For" |
| "Scared to Death" | ||
| 2012 | Burn Notice | "Means and Ends" |
| Desperate Housewives | "What's the Good of Being Good" | |
| 2012–2018 | Once Upon a Time | "Red-Handed" |
| "Into the Deep" | ||
| "Lost Girl" | ||
| "The New Neverland" | ||
| "Snow Drifts" | ||
| "White Out" | ||
| "Best Laid Plans" | ||
| "Mother" | ||
| "The Dark Swan" | ||
| "Firebird" | ||
| "A Bitter Draught" | ||
| "Wish You Were Here" | ||
| "Ill-Boding Patterns" | ||
| "The Song in Your Heart" | ||
| "The Garden of Forking Paths" | ||
| "Breadcrumbs" | ||
| "Is This Henry Mills?" | ||
| 2012–2013 | Scandal | "Hunting Season" |
| "Snake in the Garden" | ||
| 2012–2015 | Grey's Anatomy | "Suddenly" |
| "The Girl With No Name" | ||
| "Things We Said Today" | ||
| "You Got To Hide Your Love Away" | ||
| "All I Could Do Is Cry" | ||
| 2013 | The Glades | "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" |
| "Fast Ball" | ||
| 2014–2015 | Nashville | "We've Got Things To Do" |
| "Unguarded Moments" | ||
| 2014 | Resurrection | "Us Against the World" |
| "Multiple" | ||
| 2014–2016 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | "A Fractured House" |
| "Devils You Know" | ||
| "Bouncing Back" | ||
| 2016 | Quantico | "Drive" |
| Dead of Summer | "Barney Rubble Eyes" | |
| BrainDead | "Taking on Water: How Leaks in D.C. Are Discovered and Patched" | |
| No Tomorrow | "No Regrets" | |
| 2016–2019 | Hawaii Five-0 | "Ka hale ho 'okauweli" |
| "He kaha lu'u ke ala, mai kolo aku" | ||
| "A'ohe kio pohaku nalo i ke alo pali" | ||
| "Ka la 'au kumu 'ole o Kahilikolo" | ||
| 2017–2018 | The Good Fight | "Stoppable: Requiem for an Airdate" |
| "Day 429" | ||
| "Day 485" | ||
| 2017 | Kevin (Probably) Saves the World | "Dave" |
| 2018–2019 | MacGyver | "Mac + Jack" |
| "Fence + Suitcase + Americium-241" | ||
| 2018–2019 | Magnum P.I. | "The Ties That Bind" |
| "Lie, Cheat, Steal, Kill" | ||
| 2019–2023 | Fear the Walking Dead | "210 Words Per Minute" |
| "The Key" | ||
| "Cindy Hawkins" | ||
| "Sonny Boy" | ||
| "Odessa" | ||
| 2019 | Grand Hotel | "Smokeshow" |
| Evil | "177 Minutes" | |
| 2021–2022 | Big Shot | "TCKS" |
| "Carlsbad Crazies" | ||
| "Everything to Me" | ||
| "BOYS!" | ||
| 2021 | Evil | "C Is for Cop" |
| 2022 | Tales of the Walking Dead | "Evie / Joe" |
| 2022–2024 | La Brea | "The Fog" |
| "Sierra" | ||
| "Don't Look Up" | ||
| 2024 | Elsbeth | "Reality Shock" |
| "Elsbeth Flips The Bird" |
TV movies
Directors Guild of America Award :
Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on Huff (2004–2006), and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her performance in Butterflies Are Free on Broadway (1969–1972). Danner was twice nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for portraying Marilyn Truman on Will & Grace, and the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her roles in We Were the Mulvaneys (2002) and Back When We Were Grownups (2004). For the latter, she also received a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Mathew Jay Roach is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Austin Powers film series, Meet the Parents, Dinner for Schmucks, The Campaign, Trumbo, and Bombshell.
Walter Jack Palance was an American screen and stage actor, known to film audiences for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles in Sudden Fear (1952) and Shane (1953), and winning almost 40 years later for City Slickers (1991).
John Marcum Wells is an American producer, writer, and director. He is best known for his role as showrunner and executive producer of the television series ER, Third Watch, The West Wing, Southland, Shameless, Animal Kingdom, and American Woman, as well as the miniseries Maid and the upcoming series Rescue: HI-Surf. His company, John Wells Productions, is currently based at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California. Wells is also a labor leader, having served as president of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1999 to 2001 and from 2009 to 2011. Wells serves on the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) Board of Governors. In 2011, he developed the series Shameless on Showtime, which ran for eleven seasons ending in 2021.
Freddie Joe Ward was an American character actor. Starting with a role in an Italian television movie in 1973, he appeared in such diverse films as Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort, The Right Stuff, Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors and Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Henry & June, The Player, Swing Shift, Short Cuts, and 30 Minutes or Less.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Ron Underwood and starring Eddie Murphy, Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzmán, James Rebhorn, Peter Boyle, Pam Grier, and John Cleese. The film was released in the United States on August 16, 2002.
Brian Thomas Grazer is an American film and television producer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated for four Academy Awards for Splash (1984), Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and Frost/Nixon (2008). His films and TV series have been nominated for 47 Academy Awards and 217 Emmy Awards.
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy is a 2004 documentary film directed by Kevin Burns and narrated by Robert Clotworthy. It documents the making of the original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), and their impact on popular culture.
The AFI Conservatory is a private non-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills district of Los Angeles. Students learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on storytelling. The Conservatory is a program of the American Film Institute founded in 1969.
Flash Film Works is a computer graphics company that provides visual effects for films, television shows and commercials. It is owned by director William Mesa and is located in Los Angeles, California.
Nina Foch was an American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned 6 decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television credits. She was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Foch established herself as a dramatic actress in the late 1940s, often playing cool, aloof sophisticates.
Mighty Joe Young is a 1998 American live-action epic adventure film based on the 1949 film of the same name about a giant mountain gorilla brought to a wildlife preserve by a young woman who raised him and a zoologist to protect him from the threat of poachers until one decides to seek his revenge and capture and kill Joe. It was directed by Ron Underwood and starred Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, Rade Šerbedžija, Naveen Andrews, Peter Firth, Regina King and David Paymer. Creature suit actor John Alexander played the title character. In this version, the ape is much larger than the original. The film received mixed reviews and grossed a paltry $50.6 million in the United States against a $90 million production budget, making it a box-office bomb.
Martyn Burke is a Canadian director, novelist and screenwriter from Toronto, Ontario.
Lawrence Konner is an American screenwriter, producer and film director. Konner has written over twenty-five feature films, including Mona Lisa Smile, Planet of the Apes, The Legend of Billie Jean, The Jewel of the Nile, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Konner’s writing for television spans over forty-five years. His works include the HBO series The Sopranos, for which Konner earned an Emmy nomination in 2001, and Boardwalk Empire, for which he received the WGA Award for Best New Series in 2010. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as writer and executive producer on the 2016 miniseries Roots. Other television credits include Family and Little House on the Prairie.
Dean Wright is a film director and visual effects supervisor, best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Michael Pressman is an American film and television producer and director.
Donald William Peterman,ASC was an American cinematographer whose numerous feature film credits included Flashdance, Cocoon, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Point Break, and Men in Black. He was a regular collaborator of directors like Ron Howard, Ron Underwood and Barry Sonnenfeld. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the American Society of Cinematographers since 1984.
Robert Scott Steindorff is an American television and film producer, executive producer, writer, and autism advocate.
The first season of the American television drama series House of Cards premiered exclusively via Netflix's web streaming service on February 1, 2013. The season was produced by Media Rights Capital, and the executive producers are David Fincher, Kevin Spacey, Eric Roth, Joshua Donen, Dana Brunetti, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs, John Melfi, and Beau Willimon.
Pamela B. Green is a two-time Emmy-nominated, award-winning American film director and producer known for her work in feature film titles and motion graphics. She is the director, writer, editor and producer of the documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché. In 2020, she was awarded the Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year award at the FOCAL International awards for her work on Be Natural.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
