Curtis Hanson

Curtis Hanson was an American filmmaker who worked as a director, screenwriter, and producer. He grew up in Los Angeles after being born in Reno, Nevada, and left high school to work as a photographer and editor at Cinema magazine. In the 1970s he contributed as a writer to the horror movie The Dunwich Horror (1970) and directed his first feature, Sweet Kill (1973). He became known for writing The Silent Partner (1978), and for White Dog (1982) and Never Cry Wolf (1983), then directed thrillers such as The Bedroom Window (1987), Bad Influence (1990), and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). L.A. Confidential (1997) won him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and brought nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Later films included Wonder Boys (2000), 8 Mile (2002), In Her Shoes (2005), and the HBO movie Too Big to Fail (2011), which earned Emmy nominations. He also acted in Adaptation (2002). Hanson died in 2016.