David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, and North and South, and the theatrically-released films Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and L.A. Confidential (1997). He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for his work producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as helping to bring the games there. His 1971 film (as executive producer) about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle, won an Academy Award.

Biography Wolper was born in New York City, into an eastern European Jewish family, the son of Anna (née Fass) and Irving S. Wolper. He briefly attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa before transferring to the University of Southern California.

Wolper directed the 1959 documentary The Race for Space, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and others including Biography (1961–63), The Making of the President 1960 (1963) and Four Days in November (1964). Wolper then sold his company to Metromedia for $3.6 million in 1964. In October 1968, he paid $750,000 to leave Metromedia and took six film projects with him. The pre-1968 library is owned by Cube Entertainment (formerly International Creative Exchange), while the post-1970 library (along with Wolper's production company, Wolper Productions, now known as The Wolper Organization) has been owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment since November 1976. In 1965, the National Geographic Society formed a 10-year partnership with Wolper Productions where Wolper produced successful television specials for the National Geographic Society across three networks CBS, ABC and PBS.

In 1969, Wolper received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

He won an Academy Award for the 1971 film The Hellstrom Chronicle, about the study of insects, which he executive produced. He also produced numerous documentaries and documentary series including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (TV) (1968), Appointment With Destiny (1971–73 TV series), Visions of Eight (1973), This Is Elvis (1981), Imagine: John Lennon (1988) and others.

On March 13, 1974, one of his crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when their Sierra Pacific Airlines Corvair 440 slammed into the White Mountains shortly after takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California, killing all 35 on board, including 31 Wolper crew members. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man. The cause of the crash remains unsolved.

In 1984, he helped bring the Olympic Games to Los Angeles and produced the opening and closing ceremonies. He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards the following year.

In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and received the career achievement award from the International Documentary Association. For his work on television, he had received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Wolper died on August 10, 2010, of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease at his Beverly Hills home. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hollywood Hills cemetery.

Productions His company was involved in the following productions. He was a distributor of the early shows, and became an executive producer with The Race for Space in 1958. YearShow 1949Funny Bunnies (36 episodes) 1953Adventures of Superman (90 episodes) 1954Baseball Hall of Fame (75 episodes) 1954O.S.S. (32 episodes) 1954Grand Ole Opry (39 episodes) 1955Congressional Investigator (26 episodes) 1958Men from Boys - The First Eight Weeks1958The Race for Space 1959Project: Man in Space 1960Hollywood: The Golden Years 1961Biography of a Rookie: The Willie Davis Story 1961 1962 Hollywood: The Great Stars 1962Hollywood: The Fabulous Era 1962D-Day June 6, 1944 1962Biography 1962–1963Story of... 1963Hollywood and the Stars 1963 Escape to Freedom 1963 Kreboizen and Cancer: Thirteen Years of Bitter Conflict 1963 1963 1963–1964Specials for United Artists 1964 1964 1964 1964 Men in Crisis 1964 Four Days in November 1965France: Conquest to Liberation 1965Korea: The 38th Parallel 1965 Prelude to War (Beginning of World War II) 1965Japan: A New Dawn over Asia (Japan in the 20th Century) 1965 007: The Incredible World of James Bond 1965 Let My People Go: The Story of Israel 1965 October Madness: The World Series 1965 Race for the Moon 1965Miss Television U.S.A. 1965 1965Revolution in Our Time 1965 1965 1965 1965 1965In Search of Man 1965Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon 1965Revolution in the 3 R's 1965 1965In Search of Man 1965Silent Partners 1965–1966 1965–1975National Geographic Society Specials 1966 1966Wall Street Where the Money Is 1966 1966 Destination Safety 1966China: Roots of Madness 1966–1968 1967 1967 1967Untamed World 1967 1967Movin' with Nancy 1967–1968Do Blondes Have More Fun? 1967–1968 1968Rise and Fall of the Third Reich 1968 1968California 1968With Love, Sophia 1968Monte Carlo: C'est La Rose 1968Sophia: A Self Portrait 1968 1968On the Trail of Stanley and Livingstone 1968Hollywood: The Selznick Years 1968 1968 1969 1969If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium 1969Los Angeles: Where It's At 1970 1970I Love My Wife 1970–1972 1971Say Goodbye 1971They've Killed President Lincoln 1971 1971Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971–1973Appointment With Destiny 1972King, Queen, Knave 1972One Is a Lonely Number 1972Here Comes Tomorrow: The Fear Fighters 1972Republican Party Films 1972Make Mine Red, White and Blue 1972Top of The Month (3 half-hour specials) 1972Of Thee I Sing 1972–1973The Explorers 1973 1973Wattstax 1973Visions of Eight 1973–1974Primal Man Specials 1973–1975 1974This Week In The NBA (Series of 20 half-hours) 1974NBA Game of the Week Featurettes 1974Get Christie Love! 1974Judgment Specials 1974 1974Unwed Father 1974Men of the Dragon 1974 1974Love from A to Z 1974Birds Do It, Bees Do It 1974 1974Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus 1974–1975Get Christie Love! 1974–1975Smithsonian Specials 1974–1975Sandburg's Lincoln 1974–1976Chico and the Man 1975Death Stalk 1975I Will Fight No More Forever 1975–1976Welcome Back, Kotter 1976Brenda Starr 1976Collision Course 1976Celebration: The American Spirit 1976 1976Victory at Entebbe 1976Mysteries of the Great Pyramids 1977Roots 1978Roots: One Year Later 1978The Little Mermaid (Anderusen dowa: Ningyo hime or Andersen Story: The Mermaid Princess) 1978Roots: The Next Generations 1980 1980Moviola 1981This Is Elvis 1981Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter 1981Small World 1981Murder Is Easy 1982 1982Casablanca 1983 1984XXIIIrd Olympiad, Los Angeles 1984 1984His Mistress 1985North and South 1986North and South: Book II 1986Liberty Weekend 1987 1987Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story 1988What Price Victory 1988Imagine: John Lennon 1988Roots: The Gift 1989 1989Murder in Mississippi 1990Warner Bros. Celebration of Tradition, June 2, 1990 1990Dillinger 1990When You Remember Me 1991Best of the Worst 1991Bed of Lies 1992Celebrations 1992Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald 1993Celebration of a Life: Steven J. Ross Chairman of Time Warner 1993The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? 1994Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III 1994On Trial 1994Golf - The Greatest Game 1994Heroes of the Game 1994Without Warning 1994Murder in the First 1995Prince for a Day 1996 1996Surviving Picasso 1997L.A. Confidential 1998Terror at the Mall 1998Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary Show 1998 1998Confirmation 1998Legends, Icons and Superstars 1999To Serve and Protect 1999Celebrate the Century

See also Norman Lear Aaron Spelling Alan Landsburg

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