Albert S. Ruddy

Albert Stotland Ruddy (March 28, 1930 – May 25, 2024) was a Canadian-born American producer and screenwriter of film and television. He was known for producing the film The Godfather (1972) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He also co-created the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965–71), and the action series Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–2001).

Early life and education

Albert S. Ruddy was born to Ruth (née Rudnikoff) Hertz, a clothing designer, and Hy Stotland, who made uniforms, Jewish parents in Montreal, and raised in New York City and in Miami Beach, Florida, by his mother after his parents divorced when he was 6. Ruddy attended Brooklyn Technical High School before earning a scholarship to allow him to study chemical engineering at City College of New York. In 1956, he graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a degree in architectural design.

Career

While at USC, Ruffy accompanied his girlfriend, who was employed on one of Roger Corman's first movies, to Palm Springs and ended up becoming the art director for The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955). For $50, he also designed a monster for the film.

Ruddy worked designing homes for a construction company, in Hackensack, New Jersey. This eventually led to him meeting Warner Brothers studio chief Jack L. Warner, who was impressed by Ruddy's knowledge and enthusiasm, and offered him a job in Los Angeles.

After a short stint at Warner Brothers, Ruddy moved on to become a programmer trainee at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California. Returning to entertainment, Ruddy became a television writer at Universal Studios, but left when Marlon Brando Sr., father of the actor Marlon Brando, hired him to produce Wild Seed (1965), which was produced by Brando Jr.'s Pennebaker Productions.

With this film completed, Ruddy co-created with Bernard Fein Hogan's Heroes (CBS, 1965–1971), which was a critical and commercial success and ran for six seasons, despite network doubts about the suitability of WWII Nazis as comedic characters. As the sitcom wound down its run, Ruddy returned to films, producing two comedies: Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970), about two motorcycle racers, and Making It (1971), about a sexually triumphant high school student who beds the gerontophobic wife of his gym teacher.

In 1972, he produced The Godfather, an adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel. During the development of The Godfather, Ruddy held secret meetings with Joseph Colombo, Colombo's son, and 1,500 delegates of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, which led to him gaining trust that the film would not stereotype or defame Italians. His numerous meetings with Anthony Colombo proved very productive in gaining trust from the League and the Colombo Family. The film was a massive commercial and critical success and is regarded as one of the best films ever made, as well as a landmark of the gangster genre. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three – including Ruddy's first of two Oscars for Best Picture.

In 1974, Ruddy produced an adaptation of his own story treatment as The Longest Yard. The film, which has been described as "the first successful modern sports movie", was very successful financially and was subsequently remade twice with Ruddy as executive producer (as Mean Machine (2001) and as The Longest Yard (2005).

The following year, Ruddy produced director and animator Ralph Bakshi's satirical film Coonskin (1975). The film was extremely controversial and initially received negative reviews, but it would eventually earn critical acclaim. It is one of director Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies.

In 1976, he produced a western made-for-TV movie called The Macahans, which was subsequently developed into the series How the West Was Won (1977–1979).

For some time, Ruddy worked with writer-philosopher Ayn Rand to produce her 1957 epic novel Atlas Shrugged as a movie, the rights to which he purchased in the mid-1970s, but the movie never moved beyond the planning stage. Rand demanded unprecedented final script approval, which Ruddy agreed to. Her friends pointed out to Rand that Ruddy could shoot the approved script but still leave all her speeches on the cutting room floor. Rand asked for final editing approval, which neither Ruddy nor the director had the power to give her, so she responded by withdrawing her support from the film and vowing to ensure that Ruddy was never involved in any adaptation of her novel.

Ruddy then started to work with Hong Kong's Golden Harvest, producing The Cannonball Run (1981), his second picture with Burt Reynolds, a hugely successful film at the box office that received mixed reviews by critics. Ruddy next produced two action films, Death Hunt (1981) starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and Megaforce (1982). Ruddy returned to produce Cannonball Run II (1984), which was another commercial success for the Rat-Pack-prominent cast, and featured a guest appearance by Frank Sinatra. The film also features a rare on-screen cameo by Ruddy in a scene spoofing his film The Godfather, and including Godfather supporting actors Alex Rocco and Abe Vigoda.

In 1985, after leaving Golden Harvest, Ruddy and Andre Morgan set up the Ruddy Morgan Organization which produced films budgeted for the $8.5-16 million range, and arranged the financing and developing of "high-visibility" pictures the company placed up. Among their productions was the 1990 release Impulse, directed by Sondra Locke.

In the early 1990s, with Leslie Greif, Paul Haggis and Christopher Canaan, he co-created the successful series Walker, Texas Ranger. Also in 1992, he licensed the rights from Kevin McClory to make a James Bond television show, but Eon Productions blocked it, and winning the suit, ended any hopes of a television show.

In 2004, Ruddy produced Million Dollar Baby, which earned him his second Oscar for Best Picture. He shared the award with fellow producers Paul Haggis, Tom Rosenberg, and Clint Eastwood. Eastwood had presented Ruddy with the Best Picture Oscar for The Godfather over 30 years earlier.

In 2006, he hired Alana Ribble, an emerging talent at the time, and later described their professional relationship as "kismet." Their collaboration continued until his death in 2024.

In late 2015, it was announced that he had acquired the rights to Rand's Atlas Shrugged and would be making a movie for worldwide release.

In 2021, his daughter Alexandra Ruddy became co-principal at Albert S. Ruddy Productions.

Personal life

Ruddy was married to and divorced from Francoise Ruddy, who was also Jewish. This was prior to her name change to Ma Prem Hasya as part of the Rajneeshpuram Commune in Central Oregon. Francoise saw him through the production of The Godfather, even lending her name to the production company title. His second marriage, to the actor Kaye Farrington, also ended in divorce.

Ruddy later married Wanda McDaniel, the mother of his two children Alexandra and John, and an executive vice president for the Italian designer Giorgio Armani, where she is credited with helping to make Armani successful.

Ruddy was the subject of a 2013 documentary, Tough Ain't Enough: Conversations with Albert S. Ruddy.

Death

Ruddy died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 25, 2024, at the age of 94, after a brief illness.

In popular culture

In the 2022 biographical drama miniseries The Offer, which dramatizes the making of The Godfather and was executive produced by Ruddy, he is played by Miles Teller.

Filmography

Film

Television

TV films and miniseries

Awards and honors

External links

• at IMDb