Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is one third of the filmmaking trio

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 ...

. He is best known for his role in writing and directing comedy spoof films like ''

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 ...

'' (1980) and '' Top Secret!'' (1984), and for co-creating the television series '' Police Squad!,'' which was later adapted into '' The Naked Gun'' film series. He is also the director of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning supernatural drama film ''

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

'' (1990).

Early life

Zucker was born to a Jewish family in

Milwaukee 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 ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, the son of Charlotte A. (Lefstein) (d. 2007) and Burton C. Zucker, who was a real estate developer. He graduated from Shorewood High School. His paternal grandfather was Leonard Zucker who emigrated from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and became a naturalized citizen.

Career

Zucker's early career work started 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 brother David Zucker. The trio performed in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

as a sketch and comedy troupe called "Kentucky Fried Theater". They later adapted several of these sketches into a comedy anthology film, '' The Kentucky Fried Movie'', directed by

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

and released in 1977. From there the three went on and together co-directed ''

'' in 1980 and then went on to do '' Top Secret!'' in 1984, and '' Ruthless People'' in 1986. Along with Jim Abrahams, the Zuckers constitute the " ZAZ" team of directors. In 1987, both Jerry and David Zucker through Zucker Brothers Productions had inked 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. The brothers had anticipated cranking out four comedies for

during the life of the pact; the first film was a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

version of the early 1980s television show '' Police Squad!'', which was originally cancelled after six episodes on the air. In 1990, he lent his directorial skills to the dramatic genre with ''

'', which was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

. Zucker's most recent directorial effort is the 2001 film '' Rat Race''. Zucker's films have been ranked among the greatest comedies of all time: ''Airplane!'' was ranked at the top of '' Entertainment Weekly's'' list of best comedy films and AFI listed it as #10; ''Top Secret!'' made ''Entertainment Weeklys Top 100 list.

Personal life

Like his brother David Zucker, Jerry often cast his mother, Charlotte (who died in 2007), and his sister, Susan Breslau, in small roles in his films.

Filmography

Film

Producer only

Acting roles

Television

TV series

Acting roles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zucker, Jerry 1950 births Living people American people of Russian-Jewish descent 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 writers American male screenwriters American male television writers American parodists American television directors American television producers American television writers American comedy film directors Film directors from Wisconsin Film producers from Wisconsin Filmmakers from Milwaukee Jewish American comedy writers Jewish American screenwriters Jewish American television writers Parody film directors Screenwriters from Wisconsin Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Writers from Milwaukee Writers Guild of America Award winners