Mr. Donner's love of movies goes back to childhood and many hours he spent in his grandfather's movie theater. His career started in front of the camera, as an actor in a television program directed by Martin Ritt, an experience that proved pivotal to his future career as a director. Martin Ritt gave him a piece of advice that was to change his life. "Marty told me I'd never make it as an actor because I couldn't take direction," recalled Mr. Donner, "but he thought I could give it, so he offered me a job as his assistant." Mr. Donner continued assisting Mr. Ritt and many other great live TV directors.

After moving to Los Angeles, Mr. Donner got his first job directing a dramatic TV show with the assignment to direct his friend Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive. He continued to make a name for himself as a director in television, including directing Charles Bronson in the melodrama X-15 in 1961, and work on such television series as The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Kojak, among many others.

During the 1970s, Mr. Donner directed several acclaimed movies-of-the-week, and, in 1976, he directed his first major feature, the highly successful film The Omen, starring Gregory Peck, which was produced by Mace Neufeld for Twentieth Century Fox.

The next directing assignment for Mr. Donner -- Superman - The Movie, starring Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Christopher Reeve -- became one of the all-time biggest international hits. This was followed by four films: Inside Moves, The Toy, starring Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, Ladyhawke, with Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer, and The Goonies (which Mr. Donner also produced, with Steven Spielberg).

Soon afterward, in 1987, Mr. Donner directed Lethal Weapon, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as two of the most popular crime fighters in cinema history. Lethal Weapon 2 proved even more successful and the two stars teamed up for Lethal Weapon 3, which went on to become one of the highest grossing pictures of all time, earning over $150 million, and again in Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998.

Mr. Donner also directed Scrooged,starring Bill Murray, Radio Flyer, Maverick starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner, Assassins, starring Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, and Julianne Moore, and Conspiracy Theory, starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts.

Mr. Donner serves as executive producer on the HBO television series Tales From the Crypt, along with Joel Silver, David Giler, Walter Hill and Robert Zemeckis, and has directed some of its episodes. He also executive-produced the hit family movie Free Willy and its two sequels, the thriller Lost Boys, directed by Joel Schumacher, and the recently released film X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer.

Mr. Donner's wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, is a noted producer, whose credits include Mr. Mom, Pretty in Pink, Dave, Free Willy and You've Got Mail, among others. Together they run The Donners' Company, which is based at Warner Bros.