Zev Braun
Encyclopedia
Zev Braun is an American
motion picture producer. Though much of his work is in television (most notably as the executive producer
of the Tour of Duty
series) he has been a successful filmmaker since the early 1960s and continues to produce films for the big screen.
Braun's interest in filmmaking led him fresh from studying Humanities and Classic Arts at the University of Chicago
to enter movies while still serving as President of Braun International, his family's packaging firm.
In 1964, his production of Goldstein won the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at the Cannes Film Festival
.
1970s
In 1974, his co-production of Maximilian Schell
's The Pedestrian
won the Golden Globe Award as Best Foreign Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. His production of The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
, starring Jodie Foster
and Martin Sheen
, was voted Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Some of Braun's other productions in the 1970s include: Angela, starring Sophia Loren
and John Huston
; Freedom Road, starring Muhammad Ali
and Kris Kristofferson
; and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
, starring Peter Sellers
and Helen Mirren
.
1980s
In 1984, Braun again teamed up with director Schell to co-produce Marlene
, which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature along with winning the New York Film Critics Award, The National Society of Film Critics Award and the National Board of Review Award.
The 1987-88 television season saw Braun's company bring to the screen the two-hour television movie, Stillwatch, starring Lynda Carter and Angie Dickinson; a four-hour miniseries, Murder Ordained, starring JoBeth Williams
, Keith Carradine
and Terry Kinney; and a two-hour NBC
movie, The Father Clements Story, starring Louis Gossett, Jr., Malcolm-Jamal Warner
and Carroll O'Connor (winner of the Christopher Award
and CEBA Award). Tour of Duty
, the highly acclaimed weekly prime-time series about the Vietnam War
, also premiered in 1987, and ran for three successful seasons on CBS
. Other television series from Braun include Murphy's Law
, starring George Segal
, which ran on ABC
and Bagdad Cafe
, starring Whoopi Goldberg
and Jean Stapleton for CBS.
Another of Braun's productions in the 1980s is Where Are The Children?
, starring Jill Clayburgh
and Frederick Forrest.
1990s
In 1991, Braun executive produced A Seduction In Travis County, a two-hour movie for CBS
, starring Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Coyote and Jean Smart
. Expanding into the cable marketplace, he executive produced Split Images, a two-hour movie based upon the best selling novel by Elmore Leonard and starring Gregory Harrison. In 1994, Braun executive produced the critically praised four-hour mini-series Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills for CBS starring Edward James Olmos
and Beverly D'Angelo
. Also that year at CBS was Dominick Dunne's 919 Fifth Avenue, a two-hour pilot movie that starred James Marsden
and Denise Richards
.
In 1996, Abducted: A Father's Love, a two-hour NBC
movie starring Chris Noth
, Peter MacNicol
and Stepfanie Kramer
, turned out to be one of the highest rated television movies for the year and was highly acclaimed, as well. Lethal Vows
, starring John Ritter
and Marg Helgenberger, aired on CBS in 1999, and proved to be the network's highest rated prime time program for the first 10 months of the year.
Braun then produced Edges of the Lord
, a feature film shot in Poland
and starring Haley Joel Osment
and Willem Dafoe
, distributed by Miramax Films
.
2000s
Braun executive produced the CBS
2005 May Sweeps entry, Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution starring Janel Moloney
and Terry Kinney
.
Most recently, Braun won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Movie for Television for the highly rated movie he produced for Lifetime Television
, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
, directed by Agnieszka Holland
starring Mercedes Ruehl
.
, as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He serves on the Board of Trustees for The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR), and the Board of Directors for The Heart Touch Project. Zev Braun was also a founding member of the Board of Directors for GIRF (the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation) of the University of Chicago
hospital and served as the Chairman of the Board for the International Kidney Institute at UCLA. Braun also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Sabin Vaccine Institute. He was awarded the City of Hope's Golden Key for his work in connection with this organization.
He is the father of the current Rice University
Men's Basketball head coach Ben Braun
.
Braun currently resides in Los Angeles
and is the CEO of Braun Entertainment Group based in Beverly Hills.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
motion picture producer. Though much of his work is in television (most notably as the executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of the Tour of Duty
Tour of Duty (TV series)
Tour of Duty is an American drama television series on CBS. It ran for three seasons from September 1987 to April 1990 as 58 one–hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark, and produced by Zev Braun....
series) he has been a successful filmmaker since the early 1960s and continues to produce films for the big screen.
Braun's interest in filmmaking led him fresh from studying Humanities and Classic Arts at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
to enter movies while still serving as President of Braun International, his family's packaging firm.
Career
1960sIn 1964, his production of Goldstein won the Prix de la Nouvelle Critique at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
1970s
In 1974, his co-production of Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
's The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian (film)
The Pedestrian is a 1973 film directed by Maximilian Schell. It is about the trial of an elderly war criminal. The film was a co-production between companies in Germany, Switzerland and Israel.-Cast:*Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Gray...
won the Golden Globe Award as Best Foreign Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. His production of The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a 1976 Canadian-French film directed by Nicolas Gessner and starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. It was written by Laird Koenig, based on Koenig's 1974 novel of the same title; Koenig also wrote a stage play based on his book...
, starring Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
and Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, was voted Best Horror Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Some of Braun's other productions in the 1970s include: Angela, starring Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
and John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
; Freedom Road, starring Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
; and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the...
, starring Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
.
1980s
In 1984, Braun again teamed up with director Schell to co-produce Marlene
Marlene (1984 film)
Marlene, also known in Germany as Marlene Dietrich - Porträt eines Mythos is a 1984 documentary film made by Maximilian Schell about the legendary film star Marlene Dietrich...
, which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature along with winning the New York Film Critics Award, The National Society of Film Critics Award and the National Board of Review Award.
The 1987-88 television season saw Braun's company bring to the screen the two-hour television movie, Stillwatch, starring Lynda Carter and Angie Dickinson; a four-hour miniseries, Murder Ordained, starring JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams is an American film and television actress and director, and current President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.-Early life:...
, Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
and Terry Kinney; and a two-hour NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
movie, The Father Clements Story, starring Louis Gossett, Jr., Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American television actor, film director, and musician. He is best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Additionally, he appeared as Malcolm McGee on the UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie. He is currently starring as Dr...
and Carroll O'Connor (winner of 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 CEBA Award). Tour of Duty
Tour of Duty (TV series)
Tour of Duty is an American drama television series on CBS. It ran for three seasons from September 1987 to April 1990 as 58 one–hour episodes. The show was created by Steve Duncan and L. Travis Clark, and produced by Zev Braun....
, the highly acclaimed weekly prime-time series about the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, also premiered in 1987, and ran for three successful seasons on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Other television series from Braun include Murphy's Law
Murphy's Law (American TV series)
Murphy's Law is an American television series starring George Segal and Maggie Han. The series premiered November 2, 1988 on ABC. On March 9, 1989, ABC announced that it had canceled the series and that the final episode would air on March 18, 1989....
, starring George Segal
George Segal
George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...
, which ran on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and Bagdad Cafe
Bagdad Cafe (TV series)
Bagdad Cafe is an American television sitcom starring Whoopi Goldberg and Jean Stapleton. The series premiered March 30, 1990 on CBS. The show is based on the 1987 Percy Adlon film Bagdad Cafe.-Cast:*Whoopi Goldberg as Brenda...
, starring Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
and Jean Stapleton for CBS.
Another of Braun's productions in the 1980s is Where Are The Children?
Where Are The Children?
Where Are the Children? is a 1986 film based on the novel of the same name by Mary Higgins Clark.-Plot:On her birthday, San Francisco resident Nancy Harmon's two kids Peter and Lisa disappear, later to be found dead. The police wrongly accuse a devastated Nancy of being the killer...
, starring Jill Clayburgh
Jill Clayburgh
Jill Clayburgh was an American actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles in An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over.-Personal life:...
and Frederick Forrest.
1990s
In 1991, Braun executive produced A Seduction In Travis County, a two-hour movie for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, starring Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Coyote and Jean Smart
Jean Smart
Jean E. Smart is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her comedic roles, one of the best known being her role as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. She later gained critical acclaim for dramatic work, with her portrayal of Martha Logan on 24...
. Expanding into the cable marketplace, he executive produced Split Images, a two-hour movie based upon the best selling novel by Elmore Leonard and starring Gregory Harrison. In 1994, Braun executive produced the critically praised four-hour mini-series Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills for CBS starring Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
and Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
. Also that year at CBS was Dominick Dunne's 919 Fifth Avenue, a two-hour pilot movie that starred James Marsden
James Marsden
James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
and Denise Richards
Denise Richards
Denise Lee Richards is an American actress and former fashion model of Croatian and Welsh descent. She has appeared in films including Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and The World Is Not Enough...
.
In 1996, Abducted: A Father's Love, a two-hour NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
movie starring Chris Noth
Chris Noth
Christopher David "Chris" Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Det. Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been...
, Peter MacNicol
Peter MacNicol
Peter MacNicol is an American actor. He may be best known in films for his roles of Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II, Stingo in Sophie's Choice, Thomas Renfield in Dracula: Dead and Loving It and David Langley in Bean...
and Stepfanie Kramer
Stepfanie Kramer
Stepfanie Kramer is an American actress, writer, and singer/songwriter. She is probably best known for her role as the tough-minded detective, "Sgt...
, turned out to be one of the highest rated television movies for the year and was highly acclaimed, as well. Lethal Vows
Lethal Vows
Lethal Vows is an American drama/thriller television movie starring John Ritter, Marg Helgenberger and Megan Gallagher. The movie premiered October 13, 1999, on CBS.-Synopsis:...
, starring John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
and Marg Helgenberger, aired on CBS in 1999, and proved to be the network's highest rated prime time program for the first 10 months of the year.
Braun then produced Edges of the Lord
Edges of the Lord
Edges of the Lord is a 2001 film set in Poland during World War II that depicts a Jewish boy who is hidden from the occupying Germans by posing as the Catholic nephew of a local farmer , with the aid of a compassionate priest .-Cast:*Haley Joel Osment ... Romek*Willem Dafoe ... Priest*Richard...
, a feature film shot in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and starring Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment is an American actor. After a series of roles in television and film during the 1990s, including a small part in Forrest Gump playing Tom Hanks' title character’s son, Osment rose to fame with his performance as Cole Sear in M...
and Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
, distributed by Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
.
2000s
Braun executive produced the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
2005 May Sweeps entry, Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution starring Janel Moloney
Janel Moloney
Janel Moloney is an American actress, best known for her role as Donnatella "Donna" Moss on the television series The West Wing.-Personal life:...
and Terry Kinney
Terry Kinney
Terry Kinney is an American actor and theatre director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry.-Early life:...
.
Most recently, Braun won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Movie for Television for the highly rated movie he produced for Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television
Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...
, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story is a 2006 LGBT biography television film directed by award-winning director Agnieszka Holland and aired on Lifetime Television. The story documents the real life of Gwen Araujo, born Edward Araujo, Jr., a transgender teenager who was murdered after it was...
, directed by Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland
Agnieszka Holland is a Polish film and TV director and screenwriter. Best recognized for her highly political contributions to Polish cinema, Holland is one of Poland's most prominent filmmakers.-Personal life:...
starring Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American theater, television and film actor.-Personal life:Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Mercedes J., a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She was raised Catholic. Her father was of German and Irish descent and her...
.
Personal life
Zev Braun is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy 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...
, as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He serves on the Board of Trustees for The American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR), and the Board of Directors for The Heart Touch Project. Zev Braun was also a founding member of the Board of Directors for GIRF (the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation) of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
hospital and served as the Chairman of the Board for the International Kidney Institute at UCLA. Braun also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Sabin Vaccine Institute. He was awarded the City of Hope's Golden Key for his work in connection with this organization.
He is the father of the current Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
Men's Basketball head coach Ben Braun
Ben Braun
Ben Braun is the men's college basketball coach at Rice University. He previously spent 12 years with the California Golden Bears program and 11 years at Eastern Michigan University, where he remains the winningest coach in school history.-Coaching History:...
.
Braun currently resides in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and is the CEO of Braun Entertainment Group based in Beverly Hills.