Edd Griles obit

Edd Griles, Director of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” Music Video, Dies at 78

Instrumental in getting the wrestler Captain Lou Albano on board, he also helmed videos for Huey Lewis and the News, Eddie Murphy and Lee Greenwood. 

He was not on the list.

Edd Griles, who directed Cyndi Lauper in the bouncy music video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” the singer’s breakthrough hit and a wildly popular tune in the early days of MTV, has died. He was 78.

Griles died Tuesday at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, his daughter, Allyson Monson, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The New York native also directed music videos for Huey Lewis and the News (“The Heart of Rock & Roll,” “If This Is It,” “Stuck with You”); Eddie Murphy (“Party All the Time”); Lee Greenwood (“God Bless the USA”); Peter Wolf (“Come as You Are”); Sheena Easton (“Jimmy Mack”); Deep Purple and Rainbow; and others.

He also produced the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984; the first ESPY Awards in 1993; and from 1996-99, the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants.

Griles began directing music videos in 1979, and he did one for a band called Blue Angel, which included Lauper. When that group split, he and the Brooklyn-born singer teamed for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” to promote Lauper’s first major single as a solo artist and the lead single from her debut studio album, 1983’s She’s So Unusual.

The video for what became a feminist anthem was shot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the summer of 1983 and premiered on MTV in December 1983. Lauper’s mother, Catrine, was her mom in the video, while the flamboyant pro wrestler Captain Lou Albano portrayed her dad.

(Griles and producer Ken Walz had developed a relationship with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation when they attempted to make a movie set in the world of pro wrestling.)

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” which made it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1984, won the first-ever VMA for best female video, and it passed 1 billion views on YouTube in January 2022.

Griles also directed music videos for Lauper’s “Time After Time” — he was nominated as director of the year at the VMAs for that — “She Bop” and “Hole in My Heart.”

Born on Nov. 18, 1945, Edward Mori Griles graduated from Flushing High School in Queens and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He started out in advertising in 1965 as an art director at DDB Worldwide, then joined the National Hockey League in 1972 as editor and creative director of Goal Magazine and executive producer of NHL Films.

Griles’ directing and producing résumé was not limited to music videos.

For Shelley Duvall‘s Tall Tales & Legends in 1985, he directed the episode “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which starred Ed Begley Jr., Charles Durning and Beverly D’Angelo, and he was a producer on a 1988 CBS adaptation of Herman Wouk‘s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial that was directed by Robert Altman.

Griles produced the first ESPY Awards in 1993 and the first and second MTV Video Music Awards (1984, 1985). Griles was also the producer for the TV show Welcome Home America featuring Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Arnold Schwarzenegger performing in front of Presidents George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford and a contingent of 4500 returning troops from the 1991 Gulf War. American Heroes - A Sunday evening anthology series centered on sports topics and personalities. In 1996 Griles began a 3-year stint as producer of Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. At that time the show was owned by Madison Square Garden, a division of Paramount. To help boost ratings, Griles hired Marla Maples Trump as the host of the shows. Griles was instrumental in the sale of Miss Universe to Donald Trump and worked for him in 1998. In 1998 Griles co-executive produced the 26th Anniversary of Catch a Rising Star.

In 2004 he created and produced AutoRox, the first Automotive Awards show ever televised. In 2004 he also created and produced the Ultimate Chop, the Biker Build-Off Awards. He produced 30 Seconds Over Washington for HBO an interstitial series starring Bill Maher and Dennis Miller. He served as co-executive producer with Rick Newman on Comedy Central's "USO Comedy Tour". This series appeared in 1991 and 2002. Directed an episode of Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow starring Ed Begley, Jr., Charles Durning and Beverly D'Angelo. Co-Executive Producer of the animated feature "Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw". Associate Producer of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial directed by Robert Altman. In 2008, Griles produced an illumination for the Grand Opening of Atlantis, The Palm and the Palm Islands in Dubai.

He also created and produced awards shows for automobiles and bikes.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife, Danielle; his son-in-law, David; and his grandchildren, Max and Carly.

Griles directed the following music videos:

 

Rainbow - featuring Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover

"I Surrender"

"Can't Happen Here"

"Death Alley Driver"

"Stone Cold"

Novo Combo - featuring Michael Shrieve (formerly the drummer of Santana)

"Tattoo"

Blue Angel - featuring Cyndi Lauper

"Late"

"I Had a Love"

"I'm Gonna Be Strong"

Cyndi Lauper

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

Winner; MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video

Also indications; MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, MTV Video Music Award for Best Concept Video, MTV Video Music Award – Viewer's Choice, MTV Video Music Award for Best Overall Performance

"Time After Time"

Winner; April 1985 American Video Awards for Best Pop Video and Best Director.[2]

Also indications; MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video, MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction

"She Bop"

Indication; MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video

"Hole in My Heart" (Theme from Vibes)

Huey Lewis and the News

"The Heart of Rock & Roll"

"If This Is It"

"Stuck with You"

Be-Fore - A documentary airing on Showtime by filmmaker Les Blank about the making of "Stuck with You".

Sheena Easton

"Do It for Love" - Marked the debut of a young actor named Billy Zane. Zane went on to star in the 1997 film Titanic.

"Jimmy Mack" - Remake of classic song by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

"So Far So Good" - From the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night...

Eddie Murphy

"Party All the Time"

Peter Wolf

"Oo-Ee-Diddley-Bop!"

"Come as You Are"

Lee Greenwood

"God Bless the USA"

Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash

"It's Such a Small World"

World Wrestling Entertainment

"Land of a Thousand Dances" - Featuring Cyndi Lauper, Meat Loaf, Rick Derringer, and over 50 wrestlers from the WWE.