Michael Lynne (April 23, 1941 – March 24, 2019) was an American film executive, best known as the former co-chair of

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

alongside its founder

Robert Shaye Robert Kenneth Shaye (born March 4, 1939) is an American businessman, film producer, actor, director, and writer. Shaye is the founder of New Line Cinema, a film production studio that was most successful for distributing ''The Lord of the Rin ...

Biography

Michael Lynne graduated from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

(1961) and held a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. After a chance encounter with law-school acquaintance Shaye, who had subsequently founded New Line, Lynne joined the company as outside legal counsel in the early 1980s. In 1990, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of the studio, and in 2001, he was made co-chairman and co-chief executive officer. Lynne started to collect wine and bought two vineyards on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in 1999 and 2000. In February 2008, Shaye and Lynne were dismissed from New Line in advance of its restructuring as a unit of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

That June, the two formed a new independent film company called Unique Features. Lynne died of cancer on March 24, 2019, aged 77.

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* 1941 births 2019 deaths Film producers from New York (state) Brooklyn College alumni Place of death missing Mass media people from Brooklyn Columbia Law School alumni American film studio executives Midwood High School alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers {{US-film-producer-stub