Richard Darryl Zanuck (; December 13, 1934 – July 13, 2012) was an American film producer. His 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Zanuck was also instrumental in launching the career of director Steven Spielberg, who described Zanuck as a "director's producer" and "one of the most honorable and loyal men of our profession."
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993–2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009–2010) on the NBC television network, and Conan (2010–2021) on the cable channel TBS. Before his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1991, and the Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1991 to 1993. He has also been host of the podcast series Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend since 2018 and is set to launch a travel show, Conan O'Brien Must Go, on Max.
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, O'Brien was raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live. O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons for two seasons until he was selected by Lorne Michaels and NBC to take over David Letterman's position as host of Late Night in 1993. Despite unfavorable reviews and threats of cancellation in the show's first years, O'Brien and the show developed and became highly regarded, earning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He hosted Late Night for 16 years, and as of 2023 is still the longest-serving host in the history of the franchise.
In 2009, O'Brien moved from New York to Los Angeles to host his own incarnation of The Tonight Show for seven months until highly publicized network politics prompted a host change in 2010. After this departure, O'Brien hosted a 32-city live comedy tour titled The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, which was the subject of the documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011). He then hosted Conan from 2010 to 2021. Throughout his career, he has also hosted a number of awards shows and television specials, including the Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2006 and the White House Correspondents' dinner in 1995 and 2013. Conan was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2010.Known for his spontaneous hosting style, which has been characterized by The New York Times as "awkward, self-deprecating humor", O'Brien's late-night programs combine the "lewd and wacky with more elegant, narrative-driven short films". His segments outside the studio, dubbed "remotes", have also become some of his best-received work, including the international travel series Conan Without Borders. With the retirement of David Letterman on May 20, 2015, O'Brien became the longest-working late-night talk show host active in the United States. This active streak ended with O'Brien's retirement from late-night television in June 2021, with his entire run as a late-night host lasting almost 28 years.
Marjorie Celeste Champion (née Belcher; September 2, 1919 – October 21, 2020) was an American dancer and actress. At fourteen, she was hired as a dance model for Walt Disney Studios animated films. Later, she performed as an actress and dancer in film musicals, and in 1957 had a television show based on song and dance. She also did creative choreography for liturgy, and served as a dialogue and movement coach for the 1978 TV miniseries, The Awakening Land, set in the late 18th century in the Ohio Valley.
Kenneth Gail Wannberg (June 28, 1930 – January 27, 2022) was an American composer and sound editor. He worked extensively with the composer John Williams on some of the biggest box office films of all time. His music editing credits include Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981), JFK (Oliver Stone, 1991), Schindler's List (Spielberg, 1993), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón, 2004). In 1986 Wannberg won an Emmy for his sound editing on Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series.His film score compositions include The Tender Warrior (1971), The Great American Beauty Contest (1973), Lepke (1975), The Four Deuces (1975), Bittersweet Love (1976), The Late Show (1977), Tribute (1980), The Amateur (1981), Mother Lode (1982), Losin' It (1983), Draw! (1984), Blame It on Rio (1984) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984).
Wannberg died on January 27, 2022, in Florence, Oregon, at the age of 91.
Daniel Guy Wallin (born March 13, 1927) is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. Wallin is widely considered one of the most prolific and greatest sound engineers of all time. He has worked on more than 500 films since 1965, working into his eighties.
Jack Bear (October 19, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American costume designer. He was nominated at the 43rd Academy Awards for Best Costumes for the film Darling Lili. The nomination was shared with Donald Brooks.He was also known for doing costumes on TV shows such as Dallas.
He won an Emmy Award for the costumes on The Julie Andrews Hour.
William Hanley (October 22, 1931 – May 25, 2012) was an American playwright, novelist, and scriptwriter, born in Lorain, Ohio. Hanley wrote plays for the theatre, radio and television and published three novels in the 1970s. He was related to the British writers James and Gerald Hanley, and the actress Ellen Hanley was his sister.
Chris Bearde (18 June 1936 – 23 April 2017) was a British-born comedy writer, producer and director best known for his work as a writer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and for co-writing and producing television specials for Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Sonny & Cher, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Andy Williams, The Jackson 5, The Osmonds, Dinah Shore, Diana Ross, and Lucille Ball. He also created the format for the original Gong Show and a number of network and pay-cable comedy series including That's My Mama and Sherman Oaks.
John Joseph Haley III (October 25, 1933 – April 21, 2001), known as Jack Haley Jr., was an American director, producer, and writer, and a two-time recipient of the Emmy Award. His credits include directing the 1974 compilation film That's Entertainment!.
He was the second husband of Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, who had starred with his father in The Wizard of Oz.