Lawrence Gordon (producer)

Gordon was raised in a Jewish family[2] in Belzoni, Mississippi. He graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans. After moving to Los Angeles he began his producing career in 1964 working for Aaron Spelling and became writer and associate producer on the TV series Burke's Law. He quickly moved up the ranks and worked as an executive producer at ABC and at Screen Gems.[3]

In the 1970s he was a key executive at American International Pictures and received credit as executive producer on John Milius's Dillinger (1973).[3] He left as worldwide production head in 1973 to produce his first solo production, Hard Times (1975) for Columbia Pictures.[4][3] In 1978 he had two high-grossing films with Hooper and The End, both starring Burt Reynolds.[3]

He and Walter Hill were going to make The Last Gun. Financing fell through so they made The Warriors instead.[5]

In the early 1980s, he created the TV series Matt Houston. He served as President of 20th Century Fox from 1984 to 1986.[6]

In 1989, he produced Field of Dreams which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He subsequently formed Largo Entertainment which was backed by the Japanese company JVC.[7] This was revolutionary as it was the first time a Japanese company had seriously invested in a film enterprise. Under the Largo Entertainment banner Gordon produced Point Break (1991), Mulholland Falls (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), and 23 more films.

In 1994, he left Largo. Gordon Company was split up into two companies Golar, in tandem with the Lawrence Gordon Productions ( the shingle head was Lawrence Gordon), and Daybreak Productions, headed up by Charles Gordon over the late 1990s.

Gordon also had an independent production deal with Universal Pictures under the shingle Lawrence Gordon Productions. Under Lawrence Gordon Productions, he produced Jumpin' Jack Flash, Boogie Nights, Mystery Men, the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider franchise, the Hellboy franchise, and Watchmen.

Gordon has been credited with giving some of the most prolific producers their start in entertainment such as Joel Silver, Scott Rudin, Amy Pascal, and James L. Brooks.

He has three children including filmmaker and musician, George Joseph Gordon who is married to the sister of the late Wall Street Journal columnist Michael J. Ybarra.[8]

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

• Lawrence Gordon at IMDb
• https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/business/media/michael-j-ybarra-author-and-extreme-sports-reporter-is-dead-at-45.html