Oscar Profile #577: Steven Spielberg

Born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio to a concert pianist/restaurateur mother and electrical engineer father, he grew up in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Phoenix, Arizona, and Saratoga, California. His early fascination with home movies led to his career as one the most successful and influential filmmakers in the history of the movies.

His career began as an uncredited assistant editor on the late 1950s TV series, Wagon Train. He wrote, directed, edited, and produced the 1959 short, The Last Gun, leading to TV work throughout the 1960s. His first theatrical feature was 1964’s Firelight shown at one local theater and quickly forgotten. Such highly successful TV movies as 1971’s Duel led to his first theatrical success, 1974’s The Sugarland Express. His next film, 1975’s Jaws started the tradition of the summer blockbuster. Nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture, it won 3 for Editing, Sound, and Score. Spielberg himself was not nominated.

Spielberg’s next film was 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind which was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture and Spielberg’s first for direction. It won for Cinematography. That was followed by 1979’s 1941 which was a critically drubbed disaster worse than the on-screen disaster it depicted, but still managed to receive 3 Oscar nominations for Cinematography, Sound, and Visual effects, all of which it lost. Then came 1981’s Raiders of the Lost which was nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture and Director. It won 4 for Art Direction, Editing, Sound, and Visual Effects.

Beginning with 1982’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg would be a credited producer on all of the films he directed as well as many directed by others. E.T. was nominated for 9 Oscars including two for Spielberg as Producer and Director. It won 4 for Visual Effects, Sound, Sound Effects Editing, and Score. His next film, 1985’s The Color Purple received 11 Oscar nominations but lost them all, tying the record set by 1977’s The Turning Point for the film with the nominations not to win any. Even more embarrassing for Spielberg was his lack of a widely presumed Best Director nomination.

Married to actress Amy Irving from 1985-1989, with whom he had one child, he has been married to actress Kate Capshaw from 1991 with whom he has had five children.

Spielberg’s subsequent films include 1987’s Empire of the Sun (6 Oscar nominations), 1993’s Jurassic Park (3 Oscar nominations, 3 wins), 1993’s Schindler’s List (12 Oscar nominations, 7 wins including Best Picture and Director), 1997’s Amistad (4 Oscar nominations), 1998’s Saving Private Ryan (11 Oscar nominations, 5 wins including Best Director), 2001’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2 Oscar nominations), 2002’s Catch Me If You Can (2 Oscar nominations), 2011’s War Horse (6 Oscar nominations), 2012’s Lincoln (12 Oscar nominations, 2 wins), 2015’s Bridge of Spies (6 nominations, 1 win), and 2017’s The Post (2 nominations).
The release of Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story occurs one week after 75th birthday. He has The Fabelmans, based on his own childhood, in post-production.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)

Spielberg’s first film on which he was a credited producer, was the culmination of his early efforts. Whereas his earlier blockbusters Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Raiders of the Lost Ark were huge box-office hits and awards grabbers, this one added a level of realism to its obviously fictional situation that endeared it to all ages all over the world. The title character was a lovable lost creature, and the kids, played by Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, and Robert McNaughton were among the most natural in film history. Its 9 Oscar nominations and 4 wins were well deserved.

SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)

Spielberg’s greatest film won him the first two of three Oscars out of seventeen nominations so far, as both producer and director of this true story of the opportunistic German industrialist who became an unlikely hero as he used his factory in Poland to hide approximately 1100 Jews, saving them from extinction at Auschwitz. Nominated for 12 Oscars overall, it won 7. The cast is led by Best Actor nominee Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as his bookkeeper, and Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes in a chilling portrayal of a Nazi death camp commandant. It was the ninth of ten films Spielberg made about or pertaining to World War II.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

Tom Hanks is the leader of a group of soldiers tasked with finding Matt Damon whose brothers well killed in action following the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944. The highly realistic film was widely expected to win the 1998 Oscar for Best Picture and Director. While it won Best Director for Spielberg, it surprisingly lost Best Picture to the period comedy, Shakespeare in Love. Spielberg’s tenth and last film about or pertaining to World War II would not be his last involvement with the war. He would later produce the epic TV miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

LINCOLN (2012)

Spielberg was again in the race for Oscars for producing and directing this highly acclaimed film based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s acclaimed book about the Civil War era president with a screenplay by Tony Kushner. In the end the film won just two of the twelve Oscars it was nominated for. Daniel Day-Lewis won his record third Best Actor Oscar as the 16th president. His fellow nominees Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field lost in their categories to Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained and Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. Spielberg lost to Ang Lee for Life of Pi and the film lost to Argo/.

WEST SIDE STORY (2021)

Spielberg has always wanted to make a film musical. Why he chose to remake an iconic one that still holds up is anyone’s guess, but early word is that he has succeeded brilliantly. Will it earn 11 Oscar nominations and 10 wins as the earlier version did sixty years ago? We’ll have to wait a few months to find out. In the meantime, you can check out this version for yourself beginning on Christmas Day, 2021. Filling the shoes of the earlier actors are Rachel Zegler as Maria, Anson Elgort as Tony, Mike Faist as Riff, David Alvarez as Bernardo, and Ariana DeBose as Anita with 90-year-old Rita Moreno back to sing “Somewhere” as the soda shop owner.