Dan Melnick
| Daniel Melnick | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 21, 1932 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | October 13, 2009 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Film producer, studio executive |
| Notable work |
All That Jazz Straw Dogs |
| Spouse(s) | Linda (1955–1971) |
| Children | 2 |
Daniel Melnick (April 21, 1932 – October 13, 2009) was an American film producer and movie studio executive who started working in Hollywood as a teenager in television and then became the producer of such films as All That Jazz, Altered States and Straw Dogs. Melnick's films won more than 20 Academy Awards out of some 80 nominations.
Melnick was born on April 21, 1932, in New York City, the son of Celia and Benjamin Melnick, Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was killed in a car crash when Melnick was a child. His mother remarried. Melnick attended the High School of Performing Arts. After high school, Melnick attended New York University. He served in the United States Army during the 1950s, where he produced entertainment for troops while stationed at New Jersey's Fort Dix and in Oklahoma.
After relocating to Hollywood as a 19-year-old, he became CBS Television's youngest producer, and then shortly thereafter was hired by ABC, where he worked on the development of such programs as The Flintstones and The Fugitive.
In 1963, Melnick moved to New York City and became an independent producer, forming the Talent Associates company with David Susskind.
Among other productions, they created the Emmy Award winning secret agent satire Get Smart that ran from 1965 to 1970 on CBS and NBC, as well as the police drama N.Y.P.D. that ran on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from 1967–69. Melnick's role in Get Smart was to hire Mel Brooks and Buck Henry to create a half hour sitcom addressing in Melnick's words "the two biggest things in the entertainment world today – James Bond and Inspector Clouseau". ABC paid for a pilot episode, but did not purchase the series, so Melnick turned to Grant Tinker at NBC, who had Don Adams under contract and were looking for a project for the comedian.
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