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Sherry Lansing | |
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.jpg) Lansing in 2002 | |
| Born | Sherry Lee Duhl (1944-07-31)July 31, 1944 (age 81) |
| Alma mater | Northwestern University (BS) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1968–present |
| Spouses | |
Sherry Lansing (bornSherry Lee Duhl; July 31, 1944) is an American former film studio executive serving as chairwoman ofUniversal Music Group's board of directors and as a director on the board ofParamount Skydance Corporation. She previously served as chairwoman and CEO ofParamount Pictures, and president of production at20th Century Fox prior to her retirement. From 1999 to 2022, she was on theUniversity of California Board of Regents.
In 2005, she became the first female film studio head to place hand and footprints at theGrauman's Chinese Theater. In 2001, she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in the US byLadies' Home Journal,[1] andThe Hollywood Reporter named her number 1 on its Power 100 list numerous times.[2]
Lansing was born Sherry Lee Duhl inChicago,Illinois, to Margaret Heimann and real estate investor David Duhl. Her mother fled fromNazi Germany in 1937, at the age of 17. After her father died when Lansing was nine, her mother remarried Norton S. Lansing.[3] She was raised in a Jewish household.[4][5]
Lansing attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools and graduated in 1962. In 1966, she earned aBachelor of Science degree atNorthwestern University and graduated cum laude. She was a member ofSigma Delta Tau sorority.[6]
Lansing briefly dabbled in acting, appearing as Susan in the 1970 rom-comLoving, starringEva Marie Saint andGeorge Segal. Also in 1970, Lansing played Amelita inAcademy Award-winning directorHoward Hawks’ last filmRio Lobo, starringJohn Wayne. Lansing also appeared in several television shows and documentaries about films, and the actors, and actresses, starring in them. Dissatisfied with her own acting skills, she decided to learn more about the film industry from the ground up.[7]
Lansing took a job withMGM as head script reader. She then became VP of Production at Columbia Pictures and oversaw two highly-successful films,The China Syndrome andKramer vs. Kramer, both released in 1979. Her work at Columbia Pictures eventually led to an appointment with20th Century Fox in 1980, at age 35, as the first female production president of a major studio.[8][9][10] She resigned in December 1982 and became a partner withStanley R. Jaffe (with whom she shares a birthday) to form Jaffe-Lansing Productions based atParamount Pictures.[9] The company released a consistent string of minor hits through Paramount before achieving box-office success withFatal Attraction in 1987, for which Jaffe and Lansing received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture the following year.
The partnership also producedThe Accused (1988) starringJodie Foster, about rape and its impact on a victim's life. The film featured a graphic rape scene and was highly controversial when released. Made with a small budget of $6 million, it grossed over $37 million worldwide, becoming a box office hit.[11]
Other Jaffe-Lansing productions includeBlack Rain (1989), starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, and Ken Takakura, as well asSchool Ties (1992), starring Brendan Fraser. On her own, Lansing produced the very successfulIndecent Proposal (1993), starring Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson.
In 1992, Lansing was offered the chairmanship of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group.[9] During her tenure at Paramount, the studio enjoyed its longest and most successful string of releases since the 1930s. Under Lansing, the studio produced such hits asForrest Gump,Braveheart,Mission Impossible, and what was, at the time, history's highest-grossing film –Titanic (the latter two during a partnership with20th Century Fox).[9][12][13]
Viacom (which purchased Paramount in 1994) split the company into two parts in 2004 and Lansing stepped down at the end of that year after an almost unprecedented twelve-year tenure atop Hollywood's legendary "Best Show in Town."[14][13]
She served as aRegent of the University of California from 1999–2022, and as chairman of the board from 2011–2013.[6][9][12] She sits on the boards of the Broad Museum,The Carter Center,[13] the Entertainment Industry Foundation, The W.M. Keck Foundation, the Lasker Foundation, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and Scripps Research. In 2007, she founded the EnCorps STEM Teachers Program, on whose board she serves as chair. She is also co-founder of the Stand Up To Cancer initiative, which funds research teams bringing cancer treatments to patients faster.
Lansing was named Chairman of the Board of Directors of theUniversal Music Group in 2023.[15]
In 2005, she created theSherry Lansing Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for cancer research, K-12 public education, and encore career opportunities.[14][9][13] She is a recipient ofUCLA Anderson School of Management's highest honor-the Exemplary Leadership in Management (ELM) Award.[citation needed]
In 2007, she received theJean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her work in cancer research at the79th Academy Awards.[16]
In 2011, Lansing pledged $5 million toUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools to build a new arts wing, including a 250-seat performance venue.[17]
In March 2020, she hosted a fundraiser forJoe Biden at her home.[18] In 2025, organized a fund-raiser for Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine.[19]
Lansing married fellow student Michael Brownstein in 1967 while attending Northwestern University. They divorced in 1970.[20] She was married to directorWilliam Friedkin from 1991 until his death in 2023.[21][22]
Lansing and former MGM studio headJames T. Aubrey were struck by a car while crossingWilshire Boulevard in 1978. Both were badly hurt and Lansing had to use crutches for a year and a half.[23]
To me, I'm just a nice Jewish girl from Chicago who wanted to make movies
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