Al Ruddy
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Al Ruddy, co-creator of the famous CBS sitcom Hogan’s Heroesthen won the Academy Awards for producing the winning best films The Godfather And Million dollar baby, is dead. He was 94 years old.
Ruddy, also credited as one of the creators of the long-running CBS crime drama Walker, Texas Rangerdied Saturday after a brief illness at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family announced through a publicist.
On the heels of The Godfather (1972), Ruddy produced another box office hit with the original Longest yard (1974), the prison football film starring Burt Reynolds. The couple then re-equipped for action road films The cannonball race (1981) and its 1984 sequel, both directed by stuntman turned pilot Hal Needham.
The likeable Ruddy, who had “a penchant for four-letter words,” his family said, also produced films such as bad girls (1994), the first western with only female protagonists (Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andy MacDowell and Drew Barrymore); baseball comedy The scout (1994), with Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser; And Mathilde (1978), a comedy starring Elliott Gould and a boxing kangaroo that Ruddy also wrote.
At first 1960s, Kelly’s heroes director Brian Hutton introduced Ruddy to Bernard Fein, who had played Pvt.. Gomez opposite Phil Silvers in the role Sergeant. Bilko on the television.
The two men imagined a sitcom pilot about prisoners who outsmart their warden and are able to leave their prison at will, but the writers did not find a buyer. However, when they learned that NBC was working on a comedy set in an Italian POW outpost, they changed the setting of their show to a German POW camp, and CBS and Bing Crosby Productions sign.
The series, starring Bob Crane, debuted in September 1965 and aired for six seasons. Ruddy was offered the chance to produce or write for Hogan’s Heroes but he refused, wanting to work in films.
“When the show became a hit, I got calls from every studio in town, asking me for ideas for other shows I had,” he said in the 2005 book. The Godfather’s Legacy.
The deep-voiced Ruddy met Robert Evans at Paramount and the studio head gave him an office on the lot. He inspired Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard to star in Big False and little Drawing pins (1970), then produced The Adolescent drama Do it (1971). Neither was a big success, but Ruddy made both films under budget.
Evans and studio president Stanley Jaffe then gave him the position of lead producer on The Godfather (1972), a popular project based on Mario by Puzo 1969 novel.
It was Ruddy and director Francis Ford by Coppola decision to contact Marlon Brando to play the role of Don Vito Corleoneand the producer negotiated with the Italian American Civil Rights League which led to an agreement that the words “mafia” and “who is it OUR” would not be pronounced in The Godfather.
Al Ruddy (left) with Marlon Brando on the set of 1972’s “The Godfather.”
Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Al Pacino, who played Michael Corleone in the film for the first of his nine career Oscar nominations, said in a statement that Ruddy “was absolutely beautiful to me the entire time. The Godfather; even when they didn’t want me, he wanted me. He offered me encouragement when I needed it most, and I will never forget it.
At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 27, 1973, Ruddy jumped on stage to accept the Academy Award for Best Picture. “The American dream and what we all want, at least for me, is represented by this (holding the Oscar),” he said. “It’s there for everyone if we want to work and dream and try to get it.”
Clint Eastwood presented Ruddy with the statuette, and things came full circle when Ruddy offered Eastwood the opportunity to direct and star as the trainer in the boxing classic. Million dollar baby (2004).
Paul Haggis wrote the screenplay based on two short stories from the collection Rope burns by FX Tool. Angelic Huston brought that of Toole work for Ruddy, who optional but investors and talent didn’t see it as a movie – it seemed far too depressing.
“Who wants to make a film about a boxer who dies with two old men? “” was the typical response Ruddy heard.
Well, Eastwood did; he became a producer, composed the music for the film and later won the Academy Award for directing. Meanwhile, Hilary Swank was named best actress and Morgan Freeman best supporting actor.
On the Paramount+ series The offerabout the realization of The Godfather, he was played by Miles Teller. “It was an honor and a privilege to represent Al,” Teller said. “Al lived a life that most could only dream of and that all would envy.”
From left: Producer Tom Rosenberg, actor-director-producer Clint Eastwood and producer Al Ruddy pose with their Oscars for 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby” in the press room at the 77th Academy Awards.
AMPAS/courtesy Everett Collection
Albert Stotland Ruddy was born in Montreal on March 28, 1930. His mother, Ruth, was a designer of luxury furs. He moved to New York with his mother and siblings, Selma and Gerald, at age 7, graduated from Brooklyn Tech in 1948, and won a scholarship to the City College of New York, where he studied chemical engineering. He then transferred to USC in Los Angeles and earned a degree in architecture.
While at USC, he accompanied his then-girlfriend, who was working on one of Roger’s projects CormanIt is first films, in Palm Springs and ended up as art director – he designed a monster for $50 – the The beast with a million eyes (1955).
Working for a construction company in Hackensack, New Jersey, the 6-foot-4 Ruddy met Jack L. Warner, who offered him a job in Los Angeles. He then joined Universal Television but left when Marlon Brando Sr. hired him to produce. Wild seed (1965) for his son Baker with pen Productions.
After his incredible journey with The Godfather And Longest yardRuddy encountered problems with his next film at Paramount, the animated/live-action comedy Coon too (1975). A satire on race relations written and directed by Ralph Bakshithe film filmed in Harlem was the subject of protests and was called racist, and Paramount chose not to distribute it.
Ruddy’s other production efforts included Death Hunt (nineteen eighty one) ; the camp Megaforce (1982), also directed by Needham; Lassiter (1984), with Tom Selleck; Rodney Danger field football movie Ladybugs (1992); Prisoners of Heaven (1996); Average machine (2001), another prison story; Camille (2008); Sabotage (2014) ; and that of Eastwood Crying macho (2021).
He also wrote and produced Cloud (2006), with his old friend Reynolds.
Ruddy teamed up with producer Leslie Greif in the Ruddy-Greif Co., and they created the 1990s Chuck Norris hit Walker, Texas Ranger with Haggis and Christopher Canaan. Ruddy also developed the 1976 ABC miniseries. How the West was conquered and the 1998-2000 CBS series Martial lawwith Sammo Kam-Bo Suspended.
Among his survivors are former journalist Wanda McDaniel, his wife since 1981, who for years was in charge of image management in Hollywood for Giorgio Armani; his children, John and Alexandra, his producing partner and director at Albert S. Ruddy Productions; and his son-in-law, screenwriter Abdullah Saeed.
“For his contemporaries in the industry, Ruddy is best remembered for his laid-back nature, undeniable comedic sense and undying interest in the people and stories we tell,” his family said. “Among his last words (were), ‘The game is over, but we won the game.'”
Duane Byrge contributed to this report.