Michael Schlesinger obit

Michael Schlesinger, Repertory Executive and Champion of Films, Dies at 74

A friend of cinephiles everywhere, he wrote and produced a U.S. version of 'Godzilla 2000' and directed a retro comedy starring Marilu Henner. 

He was not o the list.

Michael Schlesinger, who for more than 25 years worked as a studio repertory executive for divisions at United Artists, Paramount and Sony as a champion of film classics and forgotten B-movies alike, has died. He was 74.

Schlesinger died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a bout with cancer.

The popular Schlesinger was a fixture at screenings, lectures and events like the TCM Classic Film Festival and Cinecon in Los Angeles, where he conducted interviews. He also offered commentary for DVD releases of movies like Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), perhaps his favorite film, and for the website Trailers From Hell.

“People think I live in the past. No, I live in the present. I just vacation in the past,” he often said.

The Ohio native came to L.A., found a job with United Artists Classics and was involved in the 1988 theatrical reissue of John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

At Paramount Pictures Distribution, Schlesinger worked on the 50th anniversary release of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941), Welles’ unfinished documentary “It’s All True” — which was to have been the director’s third film for RKO after Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) — and Samuel Fuller’s White Dog (1982), a controversial feature about racism.

For Sony Repertory — studio executive Jeff Blake, who had hired him at Paramount, brought him there — Schlesinger was a vp who oversaw a 70mm restoration of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the release of the B-movie spoof The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (1981). He also wrote and produced a U.S. version of Godzilla 2000.

“One of the reasons American audiences laugh at Godzilla movies is that the Japanese culture is very serious. So you have this very serious movie, then this guy in a rubber suit comes along stomping cardboard buildings and the tendency is to laugh,” he told Scott Michael Bosco in a 2001 interview.

“In redoing some of the dialogue, I felt that maybe if I put some intentional funny things and kept the human stuff on a lighter level, maybe, it wouldn’t seem so laughable when the monsters show up. I think I succeeded to some extent.”

Born in September 1950 in Dayton, Ohio, Schlesinger graduated from Ohio University in 1972, worked in Cincinnati for the independent distributor Tri-State Theaters, partnered in a local repertory theater and hosted classic movies on a TV station.

After leaving the studio business in 2012, Schlesinger directed comedy shorts featuring the faux-1930s comedy team Biffle and Shooster and helmed the Marilu Henner-starring Rock and Doris (Try to) Write a Movie,” a retro feature that premiered at the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival last year.

Another one of his favorite films was Sh! The Octopus (1937), a 56-minute comedy from Warner Bros. that starred Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins as bumbling detectives.

“Mike was a true mensch. Every cinephile had a friend in Mike Schlesinger,” friend and film historian Joseph McBride said. “He was passionate about preserving and distributing classic films. He stuck his neck out for film history while working for major studios that didn’t always appreciate what he did, but he was a driving force in getting Hollywood to better value its legacy.”

Director

Rock and Doris (try to) Write a Movie

Director

2024

 

Monstrkyd Manor (2016)

Monstrkyd Manor

5.0

TV Mini Series

Director

2016

1 episode

 

Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria in The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster (2015)

The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster

8.7

Director

2015

 

Will Ryan, Nick Santa Maria, Dean Mora, Janet Klein, Rusty Frank, Katriona Kennedy, and Shona Kennedy in Schmo Boat (2015)

Schmo Boat

7.7

Short

Director

2015

 

Imitation of Wife

Short

Director

2015

 

Bride of Finklestein

Short

Director

2015

 

The Biffle Murder Case

7.2

Short

Director

2015

 

It's a Frame-Up!

6.0

Short

Director

2013

 

Writer

Rock and Doris (try to) Write a Movie

adapted by

2024

 

Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria in The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster (2015)

The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster

8.7

writer

2015

 

Will Ryan, Nick Santa Maria, Dean Mora, Janet Klein, Rusty Frank, Katriona Kennedy, and Shona Kennedy in Schmo Boat (2015)

Schmo Boat

7.7

Short

written by

2015

 

Imitation of Wife

Short

written by

2015

 

Bride of Finklestein

Short

written by

2015

 

The Biffle Murder Case

7.2

Short

Writer

2015

 

It's a Frame-Up!

6.0

Short

writer

2013

 

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla 2000

6.0

Writer (english version, uncredited)

1999

 

Actor

Monstrkyd Manor (2016)

Monstrkyd Manor

5.0

TV Mini Series

Warren Williams

2016

 

Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria in The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster (2015)

The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster

8.7

Jerome Kern (uncredited)

2015

 

Will Ryan, Nick Santa Maria, Dean Mora, Janet Klein, Rusty Frank, Katriona Kennedy, and Shona Kennedy in Schmo Boat (2015)

Schmo Boat

7.7

Short

Jerome Kern (uncredited)

2015

 

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2008)

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

6.8

Hupto

2008

 

Trail of the Screaming Forehead

Trail of the Screaming Forehead

5.9

George (uncredited)

2007

 

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla 2000

6.0

Various People (voice, uncredited)

1999

 

Screen Test

TV Series

Contestant (1981)

1979–1984

 

Producer

Rock and Doris (try to) Write a Movie

executive producer

2024

 

Will Ryan and Nick Santa Maria in The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster (2015)

The Adventures of Biffle and Shooster

8.7

producer

2015

 

Will Ryan, Nick Santa Maria, Dean Mora, Janet Klein, Rusty Frank, Katriona Kennedy, and Shona Kennedy in Schmo Boat (2015)

Schmo Boat

7.7

Short

producer

2015

 

Imitation of Wife

Short

producer

2015

 

Bride of Finklestein

Short

producer

2015

 

The Biffle Murder Case

7.2

Short

producer

2015

 

It's a Frame-Up!

6.0

Short

producer

2013

 

Dark and Stormy Night (2009)

Dark and Stormy Night

6.6

producer

2009

 

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again (2008)

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

6.8

producer

2008

 

Trail of the Screaming Forehead

Trail of the Screaming Forehead

5.9

co-producer (as Michael S. Singer)

2007

 

Godzilla 2000 (1999)

Godzilla 2000

6.0

producer (US version, uncredited)

1999

 

Cinematographer

Monstrkyd Manor (2016)

Monstrkyd Manor

5.0

TV Mini Series

Cinematographer

2016

 

Thanks

They Came from Beyond - Sam Katzman at Columbia

Video

special thanks

2023

 

Film It Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles (2015)

Film It Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles

Video

special thanks

2015

 

Beast Wishes (2012)

Beast Wishes

8.7

special thanks

2012

 

Footprints (2009)

Footprints

5.2

additional thanks

2009

 

Yesterday Was a Lie (2009)

Yesterday Was a Lie

5.2

thanks

2009

 

Budd Boetticher in Budd Boetticher: An American Original (2005)

Budd Boetticher: An American Original

7.0

Video

special thanks

2005

 

Budd Boetticher in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005)

Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That

7.2

TV Movie

special thanks

2005

 

Buster Keaton in So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM (2004)

So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM

7.2

TV Movie

grateful thanks

2004

 

Rita Hayworth in Rita (2003)

Rita

7.2

TV Movie

special thanks

2003

 

Jean Harlow and Norma Shearer in Complicated Women (2003)

Complicated Women

7.7

TV Movie

deep and sincere appreciation

2003

 

Imagining 'Heavy Metal' (1999)

Imagining 'Heavy Metal'

5.7

Video

thanks

1999

 

Glorious Technicolor (1998)

Glorious Technicolor

7.8

TV Movie

special thanks

1998

 

Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)

Frank Capra's American Dream

7.4

TV Movie

special thanks: Columbia TriStar Repertory Department

1997

 

It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles (1993)

It's All True: Based on an Unfinished Film by Orson Welles

7.1

special thanks

1993

 

Self

They Came from Beyond - Sam Katzman at Columbia

Video

Self

2023

 

American Frontiers: Anthony Mann at Universal

Video

Self

2019

 

Stu's Show (2006)

Stu's Show

6.2

Podcast Series

Self - Guest

2013–2018

6 episodes

 

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast (2017)

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast

7.5

Self

2017

 

Frank Dietz, Frank H. Woodward, Trish Geiger, Scott Weitz, and Jack Bennett in Damn Dirty Geeks (2015)

Damn Dirty Geeks

Podcast Series

Self

2017

1 episode

 

A Stanley Kramer Production

Video

Self

2016

 

Film It Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles (2015)

Film It Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles

Video

Self

2015

 

Out of Print (2014)

Out of Print

6.7

Self

2014

 

That Guy Dick Miller (2014)

That Guy Dick Miller

7.4

Self

2014

 

In the Picture (2012)

In the Picture

5.7

Short

Self

2012

 

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007)

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story

7.5

Self

2007

 

Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)

Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

6.2

Self

2007

 

Obey the Lost Skeleton!

7.9

Video

Self

2004

 

Taking the Punishment Poll

4.6

Video

Self

2002

 

Psychette: William Castle and 'Homicidal'

4.3

Video

Self

2002

 

Battle-Axe: The Making of 'Strait-Jacket' (2002)

Battle-Axe: The Making of 'Strait-Jacket'

6.1

Video

Self

2002

 

13 Ghosts: The Magic of Illusion-O (2001)

13 Ghosts: The Magic of Illusion-O

6.0

Video

Self

2001

 

Imagining 'Heavy Metal' (1999)

Imagining 'Heavy Metal'

5.7

Video

Self

1999