Kenneth Atchity obit

Kenneth John Atchity

January 16, 1944 – October 19, 2026

Kenneth John Atchity passed on October 19, 2026, at the age of 82. 

He was not on the list.

Kenneth John Atchity (January 16, 1944 – October 19, 2026) was an American producer, author, columnist, book reviewer and professor of comparative literature.

After receiving a Jesuit education from Rockhurst High School and Georgetown University, where he was a member of the Philodemic Society and received an Ignatian Scholarship to study Greek and Latin classics, Atchity received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to Yale and received his MPhil in Theater History and his Ph.D. Comparative Literature from Yale. His dissertation, Homer's Iliad: The Shield of Memory, was awarded the John Addison Porter Prize.

He went on to become a professor of literature and classics at Occidental College, where he served as the chairman of the comparative literature department, distinguished instructor at UCLA's Writers Program, and as Fulbright Professor of American studies to the University of Bologna. During his teaching career, he was a frequent columnist for The Los Angeles Times Book Review.

His articles on English and American literature have appeared in the following publications: American Quarterly, Comparative Literature Studies, Kenyon Review, Philological Quarterly; on Italian literature in Italian Quarterly, Spicilegio Moderno,

In addition to the Los Angeles Times Book Review, his reviews have appeared in Folio, The Huffington Post, New Haven Register, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Washington Post.

In 1976, Atchity founded L/A House, Inc., a consulting, translation, book, television, film development, and production company whose clients included the Getty Museum and the US Postal Service. L/A House began by extending Atchity's teaching of creative writing to manuscript consultation and soon moved on to publishing with the production of Follies, a magazine covering creativity, and CQ: Contemporary Quarterly; Poetry and Art of which he was editor. In the 1980s L/A House moved into television, with a syndicated television pilot of BreakThrough! of which Atchity was executive producer and co-writer.

In 1985, L/A House began development of a set of video/TV romance film projects entitled Shades of Love, which became 16 full-length films, produced in 1986–87 with Atchity as executive producer, that aired throughout the world, distributed by Lorimar, Astral-Bellevue-Pathe, Manson International, and Warner Brothers International, nominated for Canada's Gemini Award; in the U.S. they premiered on Cinemax-HBO.

In 1989, he sold L/A House and founded AEI (Atchity Editorial/Entertainment International), a literary management and motion picture production company. Atchity sold Steve Alten’s Meg to Bantam-Doubleday at auction in a $2.2M deal; and then to Disney, partnered with Zide-Perry, for $1.2 (later, to Newline Pictures for a similar price). Incorporated in 1996, its name was changed to Atchity Entertainment International, Inc. in 2005.

In 1996, he founded The Writer's Lifeline (incorporated in 2002). In 2006, he and manager-partner Fred Griffin (of Houston's Griffin Partners), along with a group of investors from Louisiana and Texas, acquired The Louisiana Wave Studio, LLC in Shreveport, Louisiana from Walt Disney Productions. The LWS is the only tank specifically designed to make waves for motion pictures in North America. Films produced at the LWS include The Guardian, Mayday—Bering Sea, Shark Night 3D, Streets of Blood, and I Love You, Philip Morris; along with numerous government and industrial films.

In 2011, Atchity was nominated for an Emmy for producing The Kennedy Detail (Discovery) based on their clients' Jerry Blaine and Lisa McCubbin's New York Times bestselling book by the same title published by Gallery/Simon & Schuster in 2010.

AEI's films include Joe Somebody (Tim Allen, Julie Bowen), Life Or Something Like It (Angelina Jolie, Edward Burns), and The MEG (Jason Statham).

In 2010, Atchity also founded Atchity Productions and Story Merchant.

In 2012, Atchity published his completion of William Diehl's Seven Ways to Die and his first solo novel, The Messiah Matrix. The novel centers on a fictional marine archaeological find of a rare Herodian coin honoring Augustus. A romantic interest develops between the American archaeologist who has discovered the coin, and a young Jesuit priest intrigued by its implications. A powerful faction of the Jesuits has been preparing to announce that the fictional character Jesus of Nazareth was inspired by the life of Caesar Augustus, and the coin is crucial evidence for their claim.

Producer

The Seeding

producer

Pre-production

 

The Book of Leah

producer

Post-production

 

Hatcher: The Search for Thai Horse

executive producer

Pre-production

 

Mr. Irrelevant

producer

Pre-production

 

Gambino

executive producer

Filming

 

Jason Statham in Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

Meg 2: The Trench

5.0

associate producer (as Ken Atchity)

2023

 

The Meg (2018)

The Meg

5.7

associate producer (as Ken Atchity)

2018

 

Angels in the Snow (2015)

Angels in the Snow

5.7

TV Movie

executive producer (as Ken Atchity)

2015

 

Aaron Eckhart and Olga Kurylenko in Erased (2012)

Erased

6.0

production executive

2012

 

14 Days with Alzheimer's (2011)

14 Days with Alzheimer's

5.8

Short

executive producer

2011

 

Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Hysteria (2011)

Hysteria

6.7

executive producer (as Ken Atchity)

2011

 

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kenneth Atchity, and Betty White in The Lost Valentine (2011)

The Lost Valentine

7.5

TV Movie

co-producer

2011

 

The Kennedy Detail (2010)

The Kennedy Detail

8.0

TV Movie

executive producer (as Ken Atchity)

2010

 

Angela Bassett, Danny Glover, Giancarlo Esposito, and Julia Stiles in Gospel Hill (2008)

Gospel Hill

5.5

associate producer

2008

 

Texas Battle and Alexandra Merejo in Hitting the Bricks (2008)

Hitting the Bricks

producer

2008

 

Dominique Swain, Ellen Burstyn, and Annabella Sciorra in The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel (2004)

The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel

5.7

TV Movie

executive producer

2004

 

Angelina Jolie and Edward Burns in Life or Something Like It (2002)

Life or Something Like It

5.8

executive producer (as Ken Atchity)

2002

 

Tim Allen in Joe Somebody (2001)

Joe Somebody

5.6

producer (as Ken Atchity)

2001

 

Veronica Hamel and Jack Scalia in Shadow of Obsession (1994)

Shadow of Obsession

6.5

TV Movie

co-producer

1994

 

Falling Over Backwards (1990)

Falling Over Backwards

5.7

executive producer

1990

 

Little White Lies (1989)

Little White Lies

6.0

TV Movie

executive producer

1989

 

Brandy Gold in Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes (1989)

Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes

4.4

TV Movie

associate producer (as Ken Atchity)

1989

 

Shades of Love: Midnight Magic (1988)

Shades of Love: Midnight Magic

5.3

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Duncan Regehr and Linda E. Smith in Shades of Love: Little White Lies (1988)

Shades of Love: Little White Lies

7.4

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Shades of Love: The Emerald Tear

5.1

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Marshall Colt and Roberta Weiss in Shades of Love: Tangerine Taxi (1988)

Shades of Love: Tangerine Taxi

6.4

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Christopher Cazenove and Rebecca Dewey in Shades of Love: The Man Who Guards the Greenhouse (1988)

Shades of Love: The Man Who Guards the Greenhouse

7.2

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Elizabeth Bellm and Ted Wass in Shades of Love: Sunset Court (1988)

Shades of Love: Sunset Court

5.6

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Shades of Love: Indigo Autumn (1988)

Shades of Love: Indigo Autumn

6.5

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Shades of Love: Moonlight Flight

7.8

TV Movie

executive producer

1988

 

Greg Evigan and Patty Talbot in Shades of Love: Echoes in Crimson (1987)

Shades of Love: Echoes in Crimson

5.5

TV Movie

executive producer

1987

 

Tamara Chaplin and Rex Smith in Shades of Love: The Ballerina and the Blues (1987)

Shades of Love: The Ballerina and the Blues

7.0

TV Movie

producer

1987

 

Liliane Clune and Jean Leclerc in Shades of Love: The Garnet Princess (1987)

Shades of Love: The Garnet Princess

7.3

TV Movie

executive producer

1987

 

Kirsten Bishop and Nicholas Campbell in Shades of Love: Champagne for Two (1987)

Shades of Love: Champagne for Two

6.4

Video

executive producer

1987

 

Simon MacCorkindale and Patricia Phillips in Shades of Love: Sincerely, Violet (1987)

Shades of Love: Sincerely, Violet

6.1

Video

executive producerproducer: Cinemax-HBO

1987

 

Parker Stevenson and Linda E. Smith in Shades of Love: The Rose Cafe (1987)

Shades of Love: The Rose Cafe

6.1

TV Movie

executive producerproducer: Cinemax-HBO

1987

 

Shades of Love: Lilac Dream (1987)

Shades of Love: Lilac Dream

5.4

Video

executive producer

1987

 

Joseph Bottoms and Catherine Colvey in Shades of Love: Make Mine Chartreuse (1987)

Shades of Love: Make Mine Chartreuse

6.9

TV Movie

executive producer

1987

 

Actor

The Book of Leah

Official Announcer

Post-production

 

Bulletproof Screenwriting Show (2018)

Bulletproof Screenwriting Show

TV Series

2018

 

Angels in the Snow (2015)

Angels in the Snow

5.7

TV Movie

Mourner (uncredited)

2015

 

Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Hysteria (2011)

Hysteria

6.7

Passing Butcher (uncredited)

2011

 

Dominique Swain, Ellen Burstyn, and Annabella Sciorra in The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel (2004)

The Madam's Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel

5.7

TV Movie

Roulette Player

2004

 

Tim Allen in Joe Somebody (2001)

Joe Somebody

5.6

Jesse Ventura's Bodyguard (uncredited)

2001

 

Elizabeth Bellm and Ted Wass in Shades of Love: Sunset Court (1988)

Shades of Love: Sunset Court

5.6

TV Movie

Artist in the park

1988

 

Liliane Clune and Jean Leclerc in Shades of Love: The Garnet Princess (1987)

Shades of Love: The Garnet Princess

7.3

TV Movie

Fashion journalist

1987

 

Joseph Bottoms and Catherine Colvey in Shades of Love: Make Mine Chartreuse (1987)

Shades of Love: Make Mine Chartreuse

6.9

TV Movie

Bartender

1987

 

Writer

The Seeding

Writer

Pre-production

 

Angels in the Snow (2015)

Angels in the Snow

5.7

TV Movie

based on a story by (as Ken Atchity)

2015

 

Thanks

Birdbath (2013)

Birdbath

7.6

special thanks

2013

 

Concert (2011)

Concert

special thanks

2011

 

Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, and Ayelet Zurer in Adam Resurrected (2008)

Adam Resurrected

6.2

thanks

2008

 

Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol (1999)

Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol

6.1

TV Movie

with thanks to

1999

 

Self

Mr. Irrelevant

Self - Producer

Pre-production

 

The Entertainment Engine (2020)

The Entertainment Engine

Podcast Series

Self - Guest

2020

1 episode

 

Actors Entertainment (2009)

Actors Entertainment

7.4

TV Series

Self

2011–2012

2 episodes

 

Comedy Lab (1998)

Comedy Lab

5.2

TV Series

Self - Literary Agent

2000

1 episode