David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized for collaborating with

Jim Abrahams James Steven Abrahams (May 10, 1944 – November 26, 2024) was an American film director and writer, best known as a member of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Life and career James Steven Abrahams was born on May 10, 1944, to a Jewish family in ...

and his brother Jerry as part of

Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (abbreviated to ZAZ) was 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 ...

, with whom he wrote and directed the 1980 film ''

Airplane! ''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American disaster film, disaster comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David Zucker, David and Jerry Zucker in their List of directorial debuts, directoria ...

'' and created '' The Naked Gun'' franchise. As a solo filmmaker, Zucker has also directed '' Scary Movie 3'' (2003) and ''

Scary Movie 4 ''Scary Movie 4'' is a 2006 American parody film directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin, and Pat Proft, and produced by Mazin and Robert K. Weiss. It is the sequel to '' Scary Movie 3'' and the fourth installment in the ...

'' (2006).

Career

Zucker's movies include '' The Kentucky Fried Movie'' in 1977, '' Ruthless People'' in 1986, '' The Naked Gun'' in 1988, '' The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'' in 1991, ''

BASEketball ''BASEketball'' is a 1998 American sports comedy film cowritten and directed by David Zucker, starring ''South Park'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and costarring Yasmine Bleeth, Jenny McCarthy, Robert Vaughn, Ernest Borgnine and Dian ...

'' in 1998, '' Scary Movie 3'' in 2003, and its sequel ''

'' in 2006. Of 18 works with which he is associated,''

Phone Booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

'', which he produced in 2002 is the only non-comedic film. He co-directed several films including ''

'' in 1980 and ''

Top Secret! ''Top Secret!'' is a 1984 action comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker ( ZAZ) and Martyn Burke. It stars Val Kilmer (in his film debut) and Lucy Gutteridge alongside a supporting cast featuring Omar Sh ...

'' in 1984; along with his brother, Jerry, and

, the trio make up the '' ZAZ'' team of directors. He has worked with Pat Proft (with whom he first teamed up on the '' Naked Gun'' show '' Police Squad!'') and

Craig Mazin Craig Mazin (born 1971) is an American writer, director, and producer. He is best known for creating, writing, and producing the HBO historical disaster drama miniseries ''Chernobyl (miniseries), Chernobyl'' (2019) and co-creating, co-writing, an ...

(writer of three of the five ''

Scary Movie ''Scary Movie'' is a 2000 American parody film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written by Marlon Wayans, Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both also star), alongside Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Starring Jon ...

s''). In 1987, both David and Jerry Zucker through Zucker Brothers Productions signed an agreement with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

for a two-year non-exclusive production agreement and development deal with the studio, and the brothers had anticipated on making four comedies for

during the life of the pact. The first film was a feature film version of the early 1980s television show '' Police Squad!'', which was originally cancelled after six episodes on the air. ZAZ and Proft helped develop the parody genre of films, in which jokes are spit out with rapid-fire, using puns, physical humor, wit, and double entendres. Some of the veteran actors of ZAZ's vision of parody include

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian 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. He made his a ...

Lloyd Bridges Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He is known as a leading man in film and television. Sheen has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award as well as ...

Julie Hagerty Julie Beth Hagerty (born June 15, 1955) is an American actress. She starred as Elaine Dickinson in the films ''Airplane!'' (1980) and '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982). Her other film roles include ''A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'' (1982), '' ...

, and

Anna Faris Anna Kay Faris ( ; born November 29, 1976) is an American actress. Known for playing comedic roles, she rose to prominence with the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie (film series), ''Scary Movie'' films (2000–2006). Her film credi ...

(Faris starred in four of the ''

'' series). Looking back on his career in 2009, Leslie Nielsen said the best film he appeared in was ''The Naked Gun'', and that David was his favorite director to work with. Nielsen said of him, "He came to me one time and said, 'Leslie, I'll never make you do anything that is not funny.' ... he kept his word." Most consider his greatest work to be ''Airplane!'', which has brought on many accolades (including preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

). In his movies, his mother, Charlotte often made cameos (like the lady trying to put on make-up in ''

'' and Vincent Ludwig's secretary, Dominique, in '' The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!''). David Zucker is an aficionado of

Davy Crockett Colonel (United States), Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennesse ...

and collects memorabilia. He has said that his dream project is to make a biographical film, which he has spent time developing. During the 1990s he regularly hosted a Davy Crockett Rifle Frolic at his ranch in Ojai, California. Zucker wrote 11 updated verses to the song " The Ballad of Davy Crockett", which he claimed in 1992 that he had worked harder on those than on any of his scripts. He made a cameo appearance in ''The Naked Gun 2½'' dressed as Crockett. Zucker began to focus more on politics starting in 2004 when he began working on political ads for the Republican Party. In 2008, he made the political parody movie '' An American Carol''. In 2015, he made a video he called ''Side Effects'' attacking President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for the Iran nuclear deal in the form of a parody prescription drug ad. In 2017, Zucker said that he was working on a script for a fourth ''Naked Gun'' film with Pat Proft. In 2018 he made a cameo appearance on the hidden camera TV series '' Impractical Jokers'', where he was on

FaceTime FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...

with cast member James Murray in a sketch trying to make the other person laugh. In 2021, Zucker announced his return to filmmaking with a new spoof film titled ''The Star of Malta''.

Personal life

Zucker was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, the son of Charlotte Zucker and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer. He graduated from Shorewood High School. In 1997, David married Danielle Zucker, with whom he has two children, Charles and Sarah. He and Danielle were divorced in 2019, although they had been separated for ten years before that. His younger brother, Jerry, is his filmmaking partner. The Zucker brothers have a sister, Susan Breslau, who along with their parents has had numerous appearances in their films. When asked in a September 2014 interview by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

if he believes in God, David replied:

Environmentalism

David Zucker has been an active supporter of TreePeople since 1988 and is now the longest continuously serving board member (1990) in the organization's history. He has been an advocate of

solar-powered Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to conve ...

and

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

s since the '90s. "I can't complain about the smog in Los Angeles if I'm contributing to it," Zucker said to the ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its Nameplate (publishing), masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ...

'' in 1990.

Recurring cast members

Among all of his directed and/or produced parody films, Zucker had frequently cast the late

Filmography

Films

Acting roles

Television

TV series

Other work

Acting roles

Songwriter

* "Spend This Night With Me" (performed by

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...

in ''

'', 1984) * "I Guess I'm Just Screwed" (performed by Colleen Fitzpatrick in '' The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'', 1991) * "It's Your Birthday" (performed by more actors in ''

High School High ''High School High'' is a 1996 American comedy film about an inner city high school in the Los Angeles, California area, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Mekhi Phifer, Louise Fletcher, Malinda Williams, and Brian Hooks. It is a spoof of fi ...

'', 1996)''
''

References

External links

*
David Zucker
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

GreenCine interviewJewish Journal interview

Weekly Standard interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zucker, David 1947 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American comedy film directors American comedy writers American environmentalists American male screenwriters American male television writers American parodists American people of Russian-Jewish descent American television directors American television producers American television writers California Republicans Film directors from Wisconsin Film producers from Wisconsin Filmmakers from Milwaukee Jewish American comedy writers Jewish American screenwriters Parody film directors Screenwriters from Wisconsin Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Wisconsin Republicans Writers Guild of America Award winners