 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2024) |
Jim Abrahams | |
|---|---|
 Abrahams in 2015 | |
| Born | James S. Abrahams May 10, 1944 |
| Occupation(s) | film director film producer screenwriter |
| Years active | 1976–2019 |
| Spouse | Nancy Cocuzzo |
James S. Abrahams (born May 10, 1944) is an American film director and writer, best known as a member of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
Abrahams was born to a Jewish family [1] in Shorewood, Wisconsin, the son of Louise M. (née Ogens), an educational researcher, and Norman S. Abrahams, a lawyer. [2] He attended Shorewood High School. [2] He has a home in Eagle River, Wisconsin where he has spent summers since he was a child. [3]
He may be best known for the spoof movies that he co-wrote and produced with brothers Jerry Zucker and David Zucker, such as Airplane! (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay) and The Naked Gun series. The team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (also referred to as "ZAZ") really began when the three men grew up together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He directed movies on his own, such as Big Business , and further honed his skills in parody with Hot Shots! and its 1993 sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux . [ citation needed ]
Abrahams and his wife, Nancy (née Cocuzzo) co-founded The Charlie Foundation To Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy.
Abrahams has three children. His daughter, Jamie Abrahams is also a comedy writer.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Kentucky Fried Movie | No | Yes | No | |
| 1980 | Airplane! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-directed with David & Jerry Zucker |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1986 | Ruthless People | Yes | No | No | |
| 1988 | The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Big Business | Yes | No | No | ||
| 1990 | Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael | Yes | No | No | |
| 1991 | Hot Shots! | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1993 | Hot Shots! Part Deux | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1994 | An Introduction to the Ketogenic Diet | Yes | No | No | Documentary short |
| 1998 | Mafia! | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | Scary Movie 4 | No | Yes | No |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Kentucky Fried Movie | Technician #1 / Announcer |
| 1980 | Airplane! | Religious Zealot #6 |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | German Soldier in Prop Room |
| 1988 | Coming to America | Face on Cutting Room Floor |
| 1991 | Oscar | Postman |
| 2019 | Fat: A Documentary | Self - Filmmaker & Founder, Charlie Foundation |
| Year | Title | Creator | Producer | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Big John, Little John | No | No | Yes | writer of episode "Abracadabra" with David & Jerry Zucker |
| 1982 | Police Squad! | Yes | Executive | Yes | Director and writer of episode "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)" with David & Jerry Zucker |
| Year | Title | Director | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | ...First Do No Harm | Yes | Executive | TV movie |
| 2018 | Voice of the Epilepsies | No | Executive | Documentary |
| 2019 | Late Night Berlin | No | Creative | Episode "Folge 42" |
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Performer | Part as Kentucky Fried Theatre in one episode |
| 1974 | The Midnight Special | ||
Airplane! is a 1980 American disaster comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. It is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows its plot, central characters, and some dialogue. It also draws many elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport series. It is known for its use of surreal humor and fast-paced slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns, gags, running jokes, and dark humor.
Leslie William Nielsen was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,859 at the 2020 census.
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by David Zucker, and produced and released by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin, who sets out to uncover a criminal plot involving people being mind controlled to assassinate targets. Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalbán, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson also star in supporting roles.
Police Squad! is an American television crime comedy series that was broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. A spoof of police procedurals and many other television shows and movies, the series features Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay, and non sequiturs. It resembles the Lee Marvin police show M Squad and the late 1960s series Felony Squad. It was canceled after six episodes, and yielded The Naked Gun film series from 1988 to 1994.
David Samuel Zucker is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with Jim Abrahams and his brother Jerry as part of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, with whom he wrote and directed the 1980 film Airplane! and created The Naked Gun franchise. As a solo filmmaker, Zucker also directed Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006).
Jerry Gordon Zucker is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as Airplane! and Top Secret!, and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film Ghost. He and his older brother, David Zucker, collaborated on several films.
The Kentucky Fried Movie is a 1977 American independent anthology sketch black comedy film, produced by Kim Jorgensen, Larry Kostroff, and Robert K. Weiss, and directed by John Landis. Among the numerous star cameos are George Lazenby, Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, Barry Dennen, Donald Sutherland, Tony Dow, Stephen Bishop, and the voice of Shadoe Stevens. According to writer David Zucker on the DVD commentary track, David Letterman auditioned for the role of the newscaster, but was not selected. The film also features many former members of The Groundlings and The Second City. The "feature presentation" portion of the film stars Evan C. Kim and hapkido grand master Bong Soo Han. The Kentucky Fried Movie marked the first film appearances of a number of actors who later became famous, and launched the careers of the Zucker brothers, Abrahams and Landis.
Hot Shots! is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of Airplane!, and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Kristy Swanson, Bill Irwin, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. The film is primarily a parody of Top Gun, with some scenes spoofing other popular films, including 9½ Weeks, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dances with Wolves, Marathon Man, Rocky, Superman, and Gone with the Wind. A sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux, was released in 1993, with Sheen, Golino, Bridges and Jerry Haleva reprising their roles.
Walter E. Grauman was an American director of stage shows, films and television shows.
Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker were an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specialised in writing slapstick comedy films during the 1980s. Members of the team have often collaborated with writer Pat Proft.
Pat Proft is an American comedy writer, actor, and director. Born in Minnesota in 1947, Proft began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis in the mid-1960s. He went on to perform as a one-man comedy act in the late 1960s. In 1972, Proft began working at The Comedy Store in Hollywood which led to work in television and film writing for the Smothers Brothers and Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.
Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult is a 1994 American crime comedy film directed by Peter Segal and written by Pat Proft, David Zucker and Robert LoCash. The film is the third and final installment in The Naked Gun film series, which was based on the television series Police Squad!.
Brain Donors is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and released by Paramount Pictures, loosely based on the Marx Brothers comedies A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. The film co-stars John Turturro, Mel Smith, and Bob Nelson in the approximations of the Groucho, Chico, and Harpo roles, with Nancy Marchand in the Margaret Dumont dowager role. It was executive produced by David and Jerry Zucker, through their Zucker Brothers Productions.
Stephen Stucker was an American actor, known for portrayals of bizarre characters, notably the manic control-room worker Johnny in the early 1980s Airplane! movies and the stenographer in the courtroom sequence of 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie.
The Naked Gun media franchise, also known as Police Squad!, consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one television series and three theatrical films. The plot centers on a police detective with a lot of heart, despite being less-than intelligent. Leslie Nielsen stars in each installment in the protagonist role of Detective Sergeant Franklin "Frank" Drebin, with a fourth film starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. scheduled for release in 2025.
Franklin "Frank" Drebin is a fictional character in the Police Squad! television series and The Naked Gun movies played by Leslie Nielsen.
Shorewood High School is a comprehensive public high school located in the village of Shorewood, Wisconsin. It is part of the Shorewood School District.
Charlotte Ann Zucker was an American actress. She was the mother of filmmakers David and Jerry Zucker, and appeared in many of their films.
The history of Jews in Milwaukee began in the early 1840s with the arrival of Jewish immigrants from German-speaking states and the Austro-Hungarian empire. Throughout the 19th century, Milwaukee was the hub of Wisconsin's Jewish population with 80% of the state's Jews living there. As of 2011, it is home to 25,800 Jewish people, or 78% of Jews in Wisconsin, and is the 42nd largest Jewish community in the United States.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
 | This article about a United States film director is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
