Jerry Bruckheimer

After his divorce to Bonnie Bruckheimer, he married American editor and novelist, Linda Bruckheimer. He, currently, resides in Los Angeles with his wife and stepdaughter, Alexandra.

He established the Jerry Bruckheimer Foundation to serve the society and has been an active supporter of the fight against multiple sclerosis through The Nancy Davis Foundation for MS.

He is said to have given over $50,000 as donation to Republican campaigns and committees, with $5000 on behalf of 2008 presidential candidate John McCain and $25,000 to Mitt Romney Victory Fund, in 2012.

Jerry Bruckheimer was born as Jerome Leon Bruckheimer on September 21, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, as the only child of Jewish-German immigrants.

His upbringing was carried out in a poor household by his salesman father and bookkeeping-cum-housewife mother.

He completed his formal schooling from Mumford High School, after which he moved to the University of Arizona to study psychology and algebra.

He developed an interest in cinema from an early age, which drew him towards photography, evident from the numerous snapshots which won him several prizes.

After college, he took up rewarding advertising jobs in Detroit and New York City, producing some high-quality commercials.

In the early 1970s, Bruckheimer left his well-paid advertising job to take up a low-paying job to pursue his dream of making it big in the film industry.

His first break came through in 1972 as an associate producer under Dick Richards on ‘The Culpepper Cattle Company’, followed by ‘Farewell, My Lovely’ (1975) and ‘March or Die’ (1977).

It was only through the 1979 ‘American Gigolo’ and 1982 ‘Cat People’ that he started getting noticed. However, it was his ‘Flashdance’, with co-producer Don Simpson, in 1983 from where his journey of delivering hits began.

A series of super-hit films followed where Bruckheimer worked with Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun’ (1986) and ‘Days of Thunder’ (1990) and Eddie Murphy in ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ series, making them superstars of tomorrow.

Bruckheimer and Simpson collaborated to form Simpson-Bruckheimer Productions and signed a long-term deal with Paramount Pictures.

He delivered a string of huge hits with his new venture, some being ‘Armageddon’ (1998), ‘Remember the Titans’ (2000), ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ (2000), ‘Black Hawk Down’ (2001), ‘King Arthur’ (2004), and ‘Glory Road’ (2006).

His World War II epic ‘Pearl Harbor’, released in 2001, was a box-office hit grossing over $450 million worldwide, though it received high negative responses.

He produced the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film series, along with Walt Disney Pictures, featuring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley, which shattered box-office records and grossed over $3 billion across the world.

He had over ten series telecast on different channels in 2005, a record for any company in Hollywood, of which six were returning while four were newly launched.