Overview (3)
| Born | in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA |
| Died | in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (natural causes) |
| Nickname | Dick |
Mini Bio (1)
Richard firmly established his credentials with such epics as The Vikings (1958) , 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and Barabbas (1961) and also proved to be a master of intimate drama with Compulsion (1959) , which won Cannes Festival awards for it's male stars. He won an Academy Award for one of his earliest films - a documentary Design for Death (1947) . In 1947 the rapidly rising director met Stanley Kramer and Carl Foreman who hired him for their first film together So This Is New York (1948) , One of his most memorable accomplishments 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) which grossed well over $25 million since it's release in 1953.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
Family (1)
| Spouse | Mary Dickson (26 June 1943 - 25 March 2006) (his death) (3 children) |
Trivia (20)
Son of animator Max Fleischer.
Brother of Ruth Fleischer.
Nephew of Dave Fleischer.
Brother-in-law of Seymour Kneitel.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 345-351. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Father of Bruce Fleischer
Father of Mark Fleischer.
Grandfather of Claire Fleischer.
Enjoyed playing the game tiddlywinks with his granddaughter Vivian.
At his LA mansion, had a pool in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head.
Grandsons, Nick (b. 1985) and Skyler (b. 1987). Granddaughters, Vivian (b. 1993), Claire (b. 1990) and Helen (b. 1996).
His father's animation studios was one of the biggest competitors to Walt Disney's studio. Ironically, Disney ended up hiring Richard to direct this feature, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).
Father of Jane Fleischer Reid.
Directed Rex Harrison in three feature films.
Joined RKO in 1940, and for the next three years, co-wrote and edited the Pathe newsreel series "This Is America". He followed this with "Flicker Flashbacks", a series of silent film compilations, which he also produced.
He directed feature films from 1946, under contract first with RKO (to 1951), followed by spells at 20th Century Fox (1955-61 and 1966-69) and Columbia (1971-72), free-lancing in between. He was best known for economically made suspense thrillers and tough crime dramas. His own personal favorite was The Narrow Margin (1952), shot on a budget of $230,000 within just 13 days. Other hits were dramatisations of real-life murder cases: Compulsion (1959), The Boston Strangler (1968) and 10 Rillington Place (1971). He did considerably less well in other genres, particularly after the mid-1960's, when the law of diminishing return applied to an ever increasing number of duds, including Doctor Dolittle (1967), Che! (1969), The Jazz Singer (1980) and Red Sonja (1985).
Fleischer was born into a showbusiness family, but harboured ambitions of becoming a psychiatrist. He abandoned medical studies, however, in favour of a drama course at Yale University. At Yale, he established the Arena Players theatre group, acting as producer and director for all of their staged plays.
Los Angeles, California. [2004]
Replaced other directors on at least five pictures: His Kind of Woman (John Farrow), The Last Run (John Huston), Mandingo (Michael Campus), Ashanti (Richard C. Sarafian), and The Jazz Singer (Sidney J. Furie). He earned a reputation as a reliable "ringer" and a journeyman.
The filming of Soylent Green (1973), which he directed, was suspended for a week because of the death of his father Max Fleischer.
Personal Quotes (7)
I liked the first Conan film [Conan the Barbarian (1982)] very much; in fact, I saw a lot of The Vikings (1958) in it. It was a very well-made film, and it had many excellent dramatic qualities. [John Milius] gave it a sort of Wagnerian feel. I thought he did an excellent job. It was a heavy picture, but then the theme was very heavy - and it was imaginative in its design. Its problems came because it, for the most part, lacked humor. There were some jokes, but too much of the film was unrelieved drama.
The Happy Time (1952) was exactly the kind of film I was looking for - a human comedy about a young boy's coming of age. No melodrama, no murders, no evil wooden puppets!
Every silver lining has a black, ugly cloud hanging over it.
[on George C. Scott] George just likes to block a scene out in a routine way. And then he does it and we shoot. He starts really acting when the camera goes. And throughout a film, 90% of the "takes" I've printed with George Scott in them have been first or second takes. And if I have to use the second "take," it's because in the first one something mechanical went wrong or some other actor blew a line.
[on working with Arnold Schwarzenegger on Conan the Destroyer (1984)] Arnold has done a fantastic job -- and real progress in this art of acting, but as he has an accent I've been obliged to work him twice as hard.
[about writer/producer Martin Rackin] Rackin was a real character. He was a fast-talking, breezy, nervous, con-man type who blinked his eyes a lot. You always had the feeling that he was some sort of a street-corner shell-game operator keeping an eye open for the cops.
[on "Fantastic Voyage" (1966)]: The whole film took about a year to make - there were hundreds of days of actual shooting on it. But, even so, I love making big films. They're a strain, but then, making any film is a strain.
Salary (11)
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 1, Series 1 (1943) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 3, Series 2 (1945) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 6, Series 4 (1947) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 1, Series 5 (1947) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 2, Series 5 (1947) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 3, Series 5 (1948) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 4, Series 5 (1948) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 5, Series 5 (1948) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 6, Series 5 (1948) | $100 /week |
| Flicker Flashbacks No. 7, Series 5 (1948) | $100 /week |
| The Happy Time (1952) | $750 /week |
