Ralph Frederick Winter (born April 24, 1952) is an American film producer who has helped to produce blockbuster movies such as the ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'', ''

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

'' and ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' series as well as ''

I, Robot ''I, Robot'' is a fixup collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines '' Super Science Stories'' and ''Astounding Science Fiction'' between 1940 and 1950 ...

'' and ''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is a science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic world in which humans and intelligent apes c ...

''. His films have grossed collectively over $2 billion (USD). Winter is a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

and the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

. He has helped along such film schools as the Veracity Project, Biola University, and lectured at

Regent College Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of Va ...

, Vancouver.

Early life and career

Winter was born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, the son of Effie Audrey (Crawford) and Charles Frederick Winter. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he studied history. His first experience in production was producing training videos for Broadway Department Stores. In 1978, Winter started working in the film business for

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 ...

television, where he worked on ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'', ''

Laverne & Shirley ''Laverne & Shirley'' is an American television sitcom that ran for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of ''Happy Days'', ''Laverne & Shirley'' stars Penny Marshall and Cindy Wi ...

'', and ''

Mork and Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', " My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterre ...

''. Following his experiences in television he started working alongside

Harve Bennett Harve Bennett (born Harvard Bennett Fischman; August 17, 1930 – February 25, 2015) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter. Early years Bennett was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, in 1930, the son of Kathry ...

on the ''

'' films. He was an associate producer on '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', executive producer on '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' and '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'', and producer on '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''.

Christian films produced

Winter is also active in producing Christian movies, such as ''Three'', based on

Ted Dekker Ted Dekker (born October 24, 1962) (stylized as TED DEKkER) is an American author of Christian mystery, thriller, and fantasy novels including ''Thr3e'', '' Obsessed'', and the ''Circle Series''. Biography Dekker was born in Dutch New Guine ...

's book, and ''

Hangman's Curse ''Hangman's Curse'' is a 2001 novel by Frank E. Peretti. It is the first book in the Veritas Project series for teenagers. Plot overview The story centers around an apparently supernatural case taken by a family of investigators who make up ...

'' and '' The Visitation'', both of which were novel-to-movie creations written by Christian author

Frank Peretti Frank Edward Peretti (born January 13, 1951) is a ''New York Times'' best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural and spiritual warfare. , his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. He has ...

. His latest Christian film ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' was released in March 2009.

Other work

In 2010, Winter partnered with producer Terry Botwick to form the production company, 1019 Entertainment. The company has produced the films, '' Cool It'' and ''

Captive Captive or Captives may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Captive'' (1980 film), a sci-fi film, starring Cameron Mitchell and David Ladd * ''Captive'' (1986 film), a British-French film starring Oliver Reed * ''Captive'' (1991 ...

''.

Personal life

Winter is a Christian and his faith influenced him to co-operate on a movie based on the ''

Left Behind ''Left Behind'' is a multimedia franchise of apocalyptic fiction written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, released by Tyndale House Publishers from 1995 to 2007. The bestselling premillennial novels are Christian eschatological narrat ...

'' series of books, although he left that project before it was completed.

Filmography

*1984 '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' *1986 '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' *1989 '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' *1991 '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' *1991 ''Plymouth'' *1992

Captain Ron ''Captain Ron'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt, produced by David Permut, and co-written by John Dwyer and Thom Eberhardt for Touchstone Pictures. It stars Kurt Russell as the eponymous sailor with a quirky personality ...

*1993 ''

Hocus Pocus Hocus-pocus is an exclamation used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change. Hocus Pocus, Hokus Pokus, or variants may also refer to: Books * Hocus Pocus (novel), ''Hocus Pocus'' (novel), a 1990 novel ...

'' *1994 ''

The Puppet Masters ''The Puppet Masters'' is a 1951 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, in which American secret agents battle parasitic invaders from outer space. It was originally serialized in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' (September, Oct ...

'' *1995 ''

Hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bugs or exploits to break ...

'' *1996 ''

High Incident ''High Incident'' was a police drama television series produced by DreamWorks Television for the ABC network. The show was created by Steven Spielberg, Michael Pavone, Eric Bogosian, and Dave Alan Johnson. It aired from March 4, 1996, to May ...

'' *1998 '' Mighty Joe Young'' *1999 ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

'' *2000 ''

'' *2000 '' Left Behind: The Movie'' *2001 ''

'' *2003 ''Blizzard'' *2003 '' X2'' *2005 ''

'' *2006 '' X-Men: The Last Stand'' *2006 '' The Visitation'' *2007 '' Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' *2007 ''

Three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

'' *2009 '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' *2010 ''

In My Sleep ''In My Sleep'' is a 2010 suspense thriller film written, directed and produced by film director Allen Wolf. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Tim Draxl, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Overton. It also features Kirsten Vangsness from ''C ...

'' *2010 '' Cool It'' *2015 ''

'' *2017 ''The Promise'' *2022 '' What Remains'' *2022 ''

Hocus Pocus 2 ''Hocus Pocus 2'' is a 2022 American fantasy comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Jen D'Angelo and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a sequel to the 1993 film ''Hocus Pocus (1993 film), Hocus Pocus'' and the second installment ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Ralph 1952 births Film producers from California American Presbyterians Living people People from Glendale, California UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni