Richard Donner, the Legend That Brought Superman to Cinematic Life, Has Died

Superman director Richard Donner, the beloved filmmaker whose hits behind the digicam additionally embody The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and his work as a producer on X-Men and and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has handed away on the age of 91.

Donner’s profession as a filmmaker started in TV after a quick stint as an actor, with credit on the likes of The Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and The Fugitive. After a string of smaller directorial items all through the ‘60s and early ‘70s, Donner’s first main break was helming smash hit thriller The Omen in 1976, earlier than taking pictures himself to superhero cinema fame with the legendary Superman in 1978, casting Christopher Reeves as DC Comics’ legendary Man of Tomorrow and altering the superhero film panorama as we’d comprehend it for a brand new era. Donner initially supposed to return for the sequel, Superman II, however behind-the-scenes disputes with the movies’ producers, with director Richard Lester taking up. Much of Donner’s work was left within the closing Superman II uncredited, till Warner Bros. launched Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut on house video in 2006, to co-incide with Bryan Singer’s cinematic reboot Superman Returns.

As Donner moved on—most notably with the Lethal Weapon franchise within the late ‘80s and ‘90s, starting a working relationship with Mel Gibson that continued in Maverick and Conspiracy Theory—Donner incorporated more production roles into his career, including director-producer turns on Scrooged and Assassins, and involvement with fellow Superman alumni Singer on the 2000 take on X-Men.

As Variety reports, no cause of death has been revealed. He’s survived by his spouse, producer Lauren Schuler Donner.

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