John Randal Kleiser^[1] (born July 20, 1946) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the filmsGrease (1978),The Blue Lagoon (1980),Flight of the Navigator (1986) andWhite Fang (1991).

John Randal Kleiser was born inLebanon, Pennsylvania, the son of Harriet Kelly (née Means) and Dr. John Raymond Kleiser. He has two younger brothers.^[1] Kleiser attendedRadnor High School on the Philadelphia Main Line.^[2][3]

As a freshman at theUniversity of Southern California, he appeared inGeorge Lucas' student filmFreiheit. (Kleiser also lived in the house that Lucas was renting at the time.)^[4] Kleiser graduated in 1968.^[5] His award-winning Master's thesis film, the 1973 shortPeege about a grandson's bond with his ailing grandmother,^[6] launched his career and was selected for preservation by the United StatesLibrary of CongressNational Film Registry in 2007.^[7] He also directed an animated short that year calledFoot Fetish (which was later aired onSaturday Night Live a decade later).^[8]

Kleiser directed several television movies in the mid-1970s, includingDawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1975),The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), which starredJohn Travolta, and the Emmy Award-winningThe Gathering (1977). Kleiser was tapped to direct his first feature film, the 1978 filmGrease, in large part because of Travolta's recommendation based on their work together onThe Boy in the Plastic Bubble.^[9]

Kleiser directed several more feature films, includingThe Blue Lagoon (1980) withBrooke Shields,Summer Lovers (1982) withDaryl Hannah,Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) withJamie Lee Curtis,Flight of the Navigator (1986), featuring the first use of digitalmorphing in a film,Big Top Pee-wee (1988),White Fang (1991) andHoney, I Blew Up the Kid (1992). In London, Kleiser directed the comedyGetting It Right (1989).^[10] In 1996, he wrote and directedIt's My Party. As a writer-producer, he was responsible for the surfing filmNorth Shore (1987) forUniversal Pictures. He also directed the thrillerShadow of Doubt (1998). In 1987, he had an agreement with upstart diversified film studioManagement Company Entertainment Group to develop, direct and produce low-budget pictures that were financed by the studio, and he will shepherd indie projects of promising students and decided to build various international directors on its own.^[11]

Working in70mm3-D, he directedHoney, I Shrunk the Audience (1995) for the Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo and Paris, re-teaming with most of the principal actors fromHoney, I Blew Up the Kid.

Kleiser is openly gay.^[12]

• Nominee, Best Director –Saturn Awards,Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
• Nominee, Best Director – Saturn Awards,Flight of the Navigator

• Randal Kleiser atIMDb
• Official website
• Filmsbug.com
• DGA.org
• Ninafochproject.com

• 1946 births
• American comedy film directors
• American gay actors
• American gay writers
• American LGBTQ film directors
• American LGBTQ screenwriters
• American male film actors
• American male screenwriters
• American people of Pennsylvania Dutch descent
• American television directors
• Film directors from Pennsylvania
• Gay screenwriters
• LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania
• LGBTQ television directors
• Living people
• Screenwriters from Philadelphia
• USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni

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