Michael Nathanson (born 1955/1956) is an American film industry executive who was head of MGM Pictures.

Early life and education

Nathanson was raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, the son of Edith (née Landesman) and Ted Nathanson. His father was a director at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

including the original ''

Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the American Media, United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest inte ...

'' and the ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' and later the coordinating producer for numerous national sporting events for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

. His mother was a producer at

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

who worked on ''

The Perry Como Show Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

''. His paternal grandfather, Benedict Gimbel Jr., founded one of the first radio stations in Philadelphia (his father was born Benedict Gimbel III but changed his surname to that of his mother). His great-great-grandfather was

Adam Gimbel Adam Gimbel (May 16, 1817 – June 28, 1896) was the founder of the Gimbels, Gimbel Brothers Company. Biography Gimbel was born to a German Jews, Jewish family in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate, then a part of Bavaria, in 1817 where he work ...

, the founder of Gimbel Brothers department store. He has two sisters who are also in the industry, Laura Nathanson Knobloch, a vice president at

Fox Television Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

, and Carla Nathanson Hoffman, who worked on the '' David Letterman Show''.

Career

Nathanson began his career at

and then moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1975 where he worked as a production assistant on the 1977 films, '' The Deep'' and '' Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger''. From 1980 to 1984, he worked at

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. In 1987, he went to work for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

and in 1989, was named as senior production executive and later president of worldwide production where he oversaw the production of such films as ''

Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American biographical drama film written by Steven Zaillian, directed by Penny Marshall, and starring Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Julie Kavner, Ruth Nelson, John Heard, Penelope Ann Miller, Peter Stormare and Max ...

'', '' The Prince of Tides'', ''

Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube (in his film debut), Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fis ...

'', and '' A River Runs Through It''. In 1994, he was named as chairman and chief executive of

Arnon Milchan Arnon Milchan (; December 6, 1944) is an Israeli billionaire businessman, film producer and former spy. He has been involved in over 130 full-length motion pictures and is the founder of production company Regency Enterprises. Regency's film cre ...

New Regency Productions New Regency Productions is an American-British-Luxembourgish entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was founded in 1991 as the successor to Regency International Pictures (formerly known as Embassy International Pictures N.V.). His ...

where he oversaw such films as '' A Time to Kill'', '' Tin Cup'', ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American romantic crime action film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims ...

'', ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

'', ''

Free Willy ''Free Willy'' is a 1993 American Adventure film, adventure Drama (film and television), drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by ...

'', '' Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home'', and '' Copycat''. In February 1997, Frank Mancuso hired him to serve as president of MGM Pictures replacing Mike Marcus. At MGM, he oversaw the production of '' Windtalkers'', ''

Bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

'', '' Rollerball'', '' Killing Me Softly'', and ''

Hart's War ''Hart's War'' is a 2002 American war drama film about a World War II prisoner of war (POW) camp based on the novel by John Katzenbach. It stars Bruce Willis as Col. William McNamara and Colin Farrell as Lt. Thomas Hart. The film co-stars Terren ...

''. He stayed at MGM for seven years and the took a position as CEO of production at ONC Entertainment where he oversaw such films as '' L.A. Confidential'', '' Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach'', and '' Yours, Mine & Ours''. In 2012, Nathanson was named along with Bill Lischak as co-presidents of OddLot Entertainment by its CEO and founder, Gigi Pritzker. Oddlot disbanded in 2015.

Personal life

In 1990, he married Diana Victoria Lands.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanson, Michael 1950s births Gimbel family American film studio executives American people of German-Jewish descent Living people Ithaca College alumni