Roll Credits

What do Jaws, Patton, The Sting, Cocoon and Deep Impact have in common? No, not Kevin Bacon. Try Richard Zanuck and David Brown. The producers were awarded the first annual Muybridge Award for outstanding contributions to entertainment on October 1. The award, given by Stanford in Entertainment, is named for Eadweard Muybridge, the photographer who, with Leland Stanford, created the first true motion picture. (Stanford and Muybridge set out to prove that when a horse trots at its fastest gait, all four of its legs are off the ground simultaneously.) Brown, ’36, also has produced films like A Few Good Men and Chocolat, as well as many Broadway productions, and is the author of several bestselling books. Zanuck, ’56, and his wife, Lili, have produced such films as Driving Miss Daisy, Road to Perdition and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While the Muybridge award is new, it’s certainly not a first for the two producers. After making Academy Award-winning films and receiving the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award together in 1990, Brown and Zanuck are accustomed to sharing the spotlight.