Richard Donner, the legendary director behind the Lethal Weapon films, Superman The Movie, The Goonies and countless others, has died at 91. The director passed on Monday, confirmed by his wife, Lauren Schuler Donner, and his business manager, according to Deadline. No cause of death was reported.
Donner got his start by directing for television in the golden age. He had his hands in The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan’s Island and many others. His film debut came in 1968 with Salt & Pepper before fully launching his feature directing career with The Omen in 1976.
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Richard Donner’s big heart & effervescent charm shone in his movies through the remarkable performances of his cast, which is no mean feat. You remember all the characters in Superman, Lethal Weapon, The Goonies & more, because Donner knew how to capture that magic onscreen. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/7NDH9kKnQZ
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) July 5, 2021
The success of The Omen opened his path to directing the first Superman film in 1978, starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman. The film would be nominated for three Oscars and walked away with another special award for visual effects. He returned initially for Superman 2, but soon departed after butting heads with producers. His cut of the film was release in 2006.
After Superman, Donner would take on projects like The Toy starring Richard Pryor, Ladyhawke with Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer and then The Goonies, which became a staple for children’s movies. Lethal Weapon would follow in 1987, with Donner directing all four films with stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.
Richard Donner made the devil a child in The Omen, invented the modern day comic book movie with Superman, and reinvented the buddy cop movie with Lethal Weapon. I got to meet with him last year about a project. Guy was a natural born storyteller. Thanks for all the flicks, Dick! https://t.co/pjC9dbSkbt
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) July 5, 2021
Tributes for the late director soon poured onto social media. Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright shared a series of tweets on the director, saying, “I only met Richard once and he was funny, charming and so full of stories (and happy to indulge my geeky questions). I’m sad I’ll never get to meet him again.”
Goonies star Sean Astin also shared sweet words about the late director, recalling his time on the set of The Goonies. “Richard Donner had the biggest, boomiest voice you could imagine,” Astin wrote. “He commanded attention and he laughed like no man has ever laughed before. Dick was so much fun. What I perceived in him, as a 12 year old kid, is that he cared. I love how much he cared.”
