Ted Field | |
|---|---|
 Ted Field discussing filmmaking at New York Film Academy | |
| Born | Frederick Woodruff Field (1953-06-01)June 1, 1953 (age 71) |
| Alma mater | Pomona College[1] |
| Known for | Interscope Communications Radar Pictures |
| Spouse(s) | Judy Field (first marriage) Barbara Field (second marriage) Susan Bari Bollman Field (third marriage) |
| Children | 8 |
| Parent(s) | Marshall Field IV Katherine Woodruff Field (laterFanning) |
Frederick Woodruff "Ted"Field (born June 1, 1953[2]) is an American media mogul, record executive, entrepreneur and film producer.
He foundedInterscope Communications to develop and produce films in 1982, and produced his first hit,Revenge of the Nerds, the same year. Seven years later, he co-foundedInterscope Records withJimmy Iovine in 1989.
He is an heir of theMarshall Field family.[1]
Field was born on June 1, 1953, inChicago,Illinois, the son ofMarshall Field IV, who owned theChicago Sun-Times from 1956 to 1965, andKatherine Woodruff Fanning, who was later an editor of several newspapers.[3]
Field's parents divorced when he was young. Field's mother then married Larry Fanning, who became Field's stepfather. Field, his sisters, his mother and his stepfather moved toAnchorage, Alaska. Field's mother and Larry Fanning purchased theAnchorage Daily News from founder Norman C. Brown in 1967. Larry Fanning died in 1971: Kay Fanning continued to operate the paper until 1979 when she sold it toThe McClatchy Company. She remained as publisher until 1983.
Field attendedPomona College inClaremont, California,[1] graduating in 1979.[citation needed]
Field's Interscope Racing started off enteringDanny Ongais inFormula 5000 in 1975, graduating toUSAC racing and theIndianapolis 500 inParnelli chassis. Field also funded Ongais to make occasionalFormula One outings in aPenske during the 1977 season.
Field also backed the construction in 1980 of an Interscope chassis designed by Roman Slobodynskyj for theIndianapolis 500. This was intended to take a turbocharged six-cylinderPorsche engine (similar to the one Ongais and Field were using in theirPorsche 935) but a dispute with USAC over turbo boost meant the program was abandoned. The car was eventually fitted with a conventional FordCosworth DFX engine and entered in the 1981 500. Ongais led the race but crashed and was critically injured. In 1982 a recovered Ongais gave the car one last start at Indy but that too ended with an accident.
In 1982, Field foundedInterscope Communications,[4] which produced more than 50 major films. In 1984, Field was a leader of a group that boughtmovie camera manufacturerPanavision. In 1987, Panavision was sold toLee International.
In 1992,PolyGram bought a controlling interest in the film label.[5] In December 1998,Seagram acquired PolyGram,[6] merging itsfilm division withUniversal Pictures.[7] As a result, Interscope Communications,October Films andGramercy Pictures were sold off toBarry Diller, who ownedHSN, which in turn, had a major stake inUSA Networks. In 1999, the three labels were merged to become USA Films.[8] In 2001, Universal Pictures bought USA from Diller[9] and in 2002, combined USA Films, Universal Focus andGood Machine Releasing to becomeFocus Features.[10][11]
In 1989, he and record executiveJimmy Iovine co-foundedInterscope Records. The label sustained a distribution deal withAtlantic Records, but in 1995, became a free agent following controversy surrounding Interscope's signage of gangster rappers includingDr. Dre andSuge Knight'sDeath Row Records.[12] The label was shortly bought byMCA Inc. for $200 million.[13] In 1996, following a sale toSeagram by Matsushita Electric (parent company ofPanasonic), MCA was rebranded asUniversal Pictures, and its MCA Music Entertainment faction was renamedUniversal Music Group.[14] Then, in December 1998, Seagram acquiredPolyGram and merged its music division of labels with Universal Music Group,[6][15] resulting in Interscope, on January 1, 1999, being merged intoGeffen Records andA&M Records to becomeInterscope Geffen A&M Records.[16] He and Iovine were co-chairmen of IGA.
After leaving Interscope in February 2001,[17] he andMarc Geiger formedArtistdirect Records with the backing ofBMG'sRCA Records. The label folded in 2003.[18]
Since forming the company in late 2000, Field is currently chairman and CEO of Radar Pictures. The company initially used Interscope's library for the company's development slate.[19]
Field and Radar Pictures have faced legal action in years between 2007 and 2019 over allegations of fraudulent misconduct.[20][21][22][23] In December 2016, Field and his company assigned profits from then-upcomingJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), to Filmula Entertainment, to satisfy a breach-of-contract over the unsuccessful reboot ofTrauma Records.[24][25]
From 1984 to 1998, he owned a mansion formerly owned byHoward B. Keck located at 1244 Moraga Drive in the gated community of Moraga Estates inBel Air, California. From 1986 through 1993, Field owned theHarold Lloyd Estate (also known as Green Acres) in Beverly Hills, California.[26][27] Field is a tournament chess player who sponsored the 1990 World Chess Championship in NYC between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. He is currently developing a movie about former world chess championMagnus Carlsen[citation needed].
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| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 |  Interscope Racing | Milt MinterJohn Morton | Porsche 935/79 | IMSA GTX | 154 | DNF | DNF |
| 1980 |  Kremer Racing Team Malardeau |  Jean-Louis LafosseDanny Ongais | Porsche 935-K3/80 | Gr.5 SP 2.0+ | 89 | DNF | DNF |
| 1981 | Porsche Kremer Racing Interscope Racing | Bill WhittingtonDon Whittington | Porsche 935-K3/81 | Gr.5 SP 2.0+ | 57 | DNF | DNF |
| 1982 | Kremer Racing Interscope Racing | Danny OngaisBill Whittington | Porsche Kremer C-K5 | Gr.C | 25 | DNF | DNF |
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Man Inside | Special thanks |
| 2001 | Kissing Jessica Stein | |
| 2009 | Veronika Decides to Die | The production would like to thank |
| Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | American Geisha | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1987 | The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson | ||
| Murder Ordained | Executive producer | Television film | |
| The Father Clements Story | Executive producer | Television film | |
| 1988 | Crossing the Mob | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1989 | My Boyfriend's Back | Executive producer | Television film |
| A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story | Executive producer | Television film | |
| 1990 | The Secret Life of Archie's Wife | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1993 | Foreign Affairs | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1995 | Body Language | Executive producer | Television film |
| 1997 | Snow White: A Tale of Terror | Executive producer | Television film |
| 2000 | Into Pitch Black | Co-executive producer | Television special |
| 2015 | Winter Dragon | Executive producer | Television pilot |
| 2017 | Under the Bed | Television film | |
| 2018 | Lead | ||
| 2021 | The Wheel of Time | Co-executive producer Executive producer | |
| TBD | The Last Herald-Mage[30] | Executive producer |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Saturday Supercade | Tex Toadwalker |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)