It is hardly surprising that as the son of legendary 20th Century Fox co-founder Darryl F. Zanuck and silent film star Virginia Fox, Richard D. Zanuck grew up to be one of Hollywood's most prolific film producers. The producer of such classics as Jaws and Driving Miss Daisy, he had recently finished producing Dark Shadows starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.
Zanuck, '56, died July 13 in Beverly Hills of a heart attack. He was 77.
While at Stanford, Zanuck was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, where he met Joe Moreau, '55, and was given the nickname "The Hawk" for his eyes and nose in profile. According to Moreau the two spoke on the phone at least once or twice a week until Zanuck's death. "We didn't talk about the film industry," says Moreau. "We talked about life. He was my best friend."
After graduating from Stanford and serving a brief stint in the U.S. Army, Zanuck joined the family business. He was 24 when he produced his first film, a murder mystery that won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the ensemble work of Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman. At age 28 he became president in charge of production at Fox.
With Zanuck at the helm, the studio won three Best Picture Oscars for The Sound of Music, Patton and The French Connection. However, after failures including 1967's Doctor Dolittle, Fox foundered and the elder Zanuck fired his son in 1970. Richard Zanuck teamed up with David Brown, '36, to form the Zanuck/Brown Company at Universal Pictures.
In 1988, Zanuck formed a new company—the Zanuck Company—with his third wife, Lili Fini Zanuck, whom he married in 1978. Though they won an Oscar together (for Driving Miss Daisy), Lili Zanuck says she never set out to make movies. "I just wanted to be near Dick. I learned the film business by doing the things other people didn't want to do."
Zanuck had two sons, Harrison and Dean, from a previous marriage. Says Dean of his father, "No matter where he was in the world or where we were, he'd call us, maybe just two minutes at a time, but every single day. While the conversation was trivial, its significance was monumental. It was the connection, the glue that kept us close and the reassurance that he was there to count on."
Zanuck is survived by his wife, sons and nine grandchildren.
Julie Muller Mitchell, '79, is a writer in San Francisco.
