Phil Alden Robinson
Encyclopedia
Phil Alden Robinson is an American
film director
and screenwriter
whose films include Field of Dreams
, Sneakers and The Sum of All Fears
.
, the son of Jessie Frances and S. Jesse Robinson, who was a drama critic for the New York Journal American
and a media coordinator for the liquor division of the National Distillers & Chemical Corp. in New York. Robinson graduated from Union College
in Schenectady, New York
with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Union College in 1996.
Robinson directed the baseball film, Field of Dreams
(1989). It earned Robinson nominations for the Directors Guild of America
Award, the Writers Guild of America
Award, and an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation
(the film was also nominated for Best Picture
and Best Original Score
Oscars). Other accolades for the film include the Christopher Award
, and Premiere Magazine's Readers Poll for Best Picture of 1989.
His next feature, Sneakers
(1992), was nominated for an Edgar Award
by the Mystery Writers of America
.
Robinson's 2000 TV drama Freedom Song won the Writers Guild of America
Award for Best Original Longform Screenplay, was nominated for two Emmy Award
s, three NAACP Image Award
s (including Best TV Movie
), a Screen Actors Guild
Award, a Sound Editors Golden Reel Award, and the Humanitas Prize
. It also received the Christopher Award
, the San Francisco Film Society's "Golden Gate Award", and a National Association of Minorities in Communications Image Award.
For Band of Brothers (2001), he (along with all the directors on the series) was nominated for a Directors Guild of America
Award and won an Emmy Award
for Best Directing of a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special.
In 1990, Robinson was named "Screenwriter of the Year" by the National Association of Theatre Owners
, and in 1994 received the Writers Guild of America
's Valentine Davies Award for contributions to the entertainment industry and the community-at-large.
In 1992, he accompanied the United Nations High Commission for Refugees as an observer on relief missions to Somalia
and Bosnia
, for which he wrote and directed his first of five documentaries for ABC News "Nightline." The last one, Sarajevo Spring, was nominated for a national News & Documentary Emmy Award
in 1997.
Robinson is currently Vice President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
, is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America
, and serves on the Board of Overseers of the UCLA Hammer Museum.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
whose films include Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
, Sneakers and The Sum of All Fears
The Sum of All Fears (film)
The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
.
Life and career
Robinson was born in Long Beach, New YorkLong Beach, New York
Long Beach is a city in Nassau County, New York. Just south of Long Island, it is located on Long Beach Barrier Island, which is the westernmost of the outer barrier islands off Long Island's South Shore. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 33,275...
, the son of Jessie Frances and S. Jesse Robinson, who was a drama critic for the New York Journal American
New York Journal American
The New York Journal American was a newspaper published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst: The New York American , a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper...
and a media coordinator for the liquor division of the National Distillers & Chemical Corp. in New York. Robinson graduated from Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Union College in 1996.
Robinson directed the baseball film, Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
(1989). It earned Robinson nominations for the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
Award, the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Award, and an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
(the film was also nominated for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
and Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
Oscars). Other accolades for the film include the Christopher Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
, and Premiere Magazine's Readers Poll for Best Picture of 1989.
His next feature, Sneakers
Sneakers (film)
Sneakers is a 1992 caper film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn...
(1992), was nominated for an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
by the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
.
Robinson's 2000 TV drama Freedom Song won the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
Award for Best Original Longform Screenplay, was nominated for two Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, three NAACP Image Award
NAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
s (including Best TV Movie
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special:...
), a Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
Award, a Sound Editors Golden Reel Award, and the Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
. It also received the Christopher Award
Christopher Award
The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
, the San Francisco Film Society's "Golden Gate Award", and a National Association of Minorities in Communications Image Award.
For Band of Brothers (2001), he (along with all the directors on the series) was nominated for a Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
Award and won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Best Directing of a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special.
In 1990, Robinson was named "Screenwriter of the Year" by the National Association of Theatre Owners
National Association of Theatre Owners
The National Association of Theatre Owners is a trade organization based in the United States whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most major theater chains are members, as are many independent theatre operators; collectively, they account for the operation of over 26,000 motion...
, and in 1994 received the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
's Valentine Davies Award for contributions to the entertainment industry and the community-at-large.
In 1992, he accompanied the United Nations High Commission for Refugees as an observer on relief missions to Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
and Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, for which he wrote and directed his first of five documentaries for ABC News "Nightline." The last one, Sarajevo Spring, was nominated for a national News & Documentary Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1997.
Robinson is currently Vice President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
, is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
, and serves on the Board of Overseers of the UCLA Hammer Museum.
Filmography
- Trapper John M.D. (1981) (TV)
- RhinestoneRhinestone (film)Rhinestone is a 1984 comedy film directed by Bob Clark with a screenplay by Sylvester Stallone and Phil Alden Robinson; the film stars Stallone and Dolly Parton.-Plot:...
(with Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
) (1984) - All of Me (1984)
- FletchFletch (film)Fletch is a 1985 comedy film about a wisecracking investigative newspaper reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher , who writes under the name of Jane Doe...
(1985) (uncredited) - In the MoodIn the Mood (film)In the Mood is a 1987 film directed by Phil Alden Robinson. It is set in the 1940s and stars Patrick Dempsey and Beverly D'Angelo.Based on the true story of Ellsworth Clewer "Sonny" Wisecarver Jr., called the Woo Woo Kid, who became infamous in 1944 for having affairs with older women...
(1987) (also Director) - Field of DreamsField of DreamsField of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
(1989) (also Director) - RelentlessRelentless (1989 film)Relentless is a 1989 American crime film directed by William Lustig and starring Judd Nelson, Robert Loggia and Leo Rossi. The film follows two LAPD officers on a hunt for an ex-cop turned serial killer....
(as Jack T.D. Robinson) (1989) - SneakersSneakers (film)Sneakers is a 1992 caper film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by Robinson, Walter F. Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker and starring Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, River Phoenix, Sidney Poitier and David Strathairn...
(with Lawrence LaskerLawrence LaskerLawrence C. Lasker is a screenwriter and producer who entered American film in 1983 as writer of the movie WarGames. He is the son of actress Jane Greer and producer Edward Lasker...
and Walter F. ParkesWalter F. ParkesWalter F. Parkes is an American film producer, writer and former studio head.- Biography :Parkes has been associated with DreamWorks Pictures, which he ran from its inception in 1994 until 2005...
) (1992) (also Director) - Freedom SongFreedom SongFreedom Song is a 1982 live album by Oscar Peterson, recorded in Japan.-Track listing:# "'Round Midnight" – 6:41...
(with Stanley WeiserStanley WeiserStanley Weiser is an American screenwriter. He was born in New York City. He is a graduate of the NYU Film School. His screen credits include Wall Street and W., both directed by Oliver Stone. He also wrote the 20th Century Fox animal rights film, Project X. He is credited for creating the...
) (2000) (TV) (also Director) - Band of Brothers (2001) (TV) (Director Only)
- The Sum of All FearsThe Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
(2002) - Sinatra (2013)