| Birth Name: | David Lloyd Wolper |
| Birth Date: | 11 January 1928 |
| Birth Place: | New York, New York, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | television and film producer |
| Spouse: | Toni Carroll (1953–1955; divorced) Margaret Dawn Richard (1958–1969; divorced) Gloria Diane Hill (1974–2010; his death) |
| Children: | 3 |
David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, and North and South, and the theatrically-released films Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and L.A. Confidential. He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985 for his work producing the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as helping to bring the games there. His 1971 film (as executive producer) about the study of insects, The Hellstrom Chronicle, won an Academy Award.
Wolper was born in New York City, into an eastern European Jewish family, the son of Anna (née Fass) and Irving S. Wolper.[1] He briefly attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa before transferring to the University of Southern California.[2]
Wolper directed the 1959 documentary The Race for Space, which was nominated for an Academy Award, and others including Biography (1961–63), The Making of the President 1960 (1963) and Four Days in November (1964). Wolper then sold his company to Metromedia for $3.6 million in 1964.[3] In October 1968, he paid $750,000 to leave Metromedia and took six films projects with him.[4] The pre-1968 library is owned by Cube Entertainment (formerly International Creative Exchange), while the post-1970 library (along with Wolper's production company, Wolper Productions, now known as The Wolper Organization[5] [6]) has been owned by Warner Bros. since November 1976.[7]
In 1969, Wolper received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[8]
He won an Academy Award for the 1971 film The Hellstrom Chronicle, about the study of insects, which he executive produced. He also produced numerous documentaries and documentary series including The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (TV) (1968), Appointment With Destiny (1971–73 TV series), Visions of Eight (1973), This Is Elvis (1981), (1988) and others.
On March 13, 1974, one of his crews filming a National Geographic history of Australopithecus at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area was killed when their Sierra Pacific Airlines Corvair 440 slammed into the White Mountains shortly after takeoff from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California, killing all 35 on board, including 31 Wolper crew members. The filmed segment was recovered in the wreckage and was broadcast in the television series Primal Man. The cause of the crash remains unsolved.[9]
In 1984, he helped bring the Olympic Games to Los Angeles and produced the opening and closing ceremonies.[10] He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards the following year.[10]
In 1988, Wolper was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.[11] For his work on television, he had received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Wolper died on August 10, 2010, of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease at his Beverly Hills home.[12] He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hollywood Hills cemetery.
His company was involved in the following productions. He was a distributor of the early shows, and became an executive producer with The Race for Space in 1958.[13]
| Year | Show | |
| 1949 | Funny Bunnies (36 episodes) | |
| 1953 | Adventures of Superman (90 episodes) | |
| 1954 | Baseball Hall of Fame (75 episodes) | |
| 1954 | O.S.S. (32 episodes) | |
| 1954 | Grand Ole Opry (39 episodes) | |
| 1955 | Congressional Investigator (26 episodes) | |
| 1958 | Men from Boys - The First Eight Weeks | |
| 1958 | The Race for Space | |
| 1959 | ||
| 1960 | ||
| 1961 | ||
| 1961 | ||
| 1962 | ||
| 1962 | ||
| 1962 | D-Day June 6, 1944 | |
| 1962 | Biography | |
| 1962–1963 | Story of... | |
| 1963 | Hollywood and the Stars | |
| 1963 | Escape to Freedom | |
| 1963 | ||
| 1963 | ||
| 1963 | ||
| 1963–1964 | Specials for United Artists | |
| 1964 | ||
| 1964 | ||
| 1964 | ||
| 1964 | Men in Crisis | |
| 1964 | Four Days in November | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | Prelude to War (Beginning of World War II) | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | 007: The Incredible World of James Bond | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | Race for the Moon | |
| 1965 | Miss Television U.S.A. | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | Revolution in Our Time | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | In Search of Man | |
| 1965 | Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon | |
| 1965 | Revolution in the 3 R's | |
| 1965 | ||
| 1965 | In Search of Man | |
| 1965 | Silent Partners | |
| 1965–1966 | ||
| 1965–1975 | National Geographic Society Specials | |
| 1966 | ||
| 1966 | Wall Street Where the Money Is | |
| 1966 | ||
| 1966 | Destination Safety | |
| 1966 | ||
| 1966–1968 | ||
| 1967 | ||
| 1967 | ||
| 1967 | Untamed World | |
| 1967 | ||
| 1967 | Movin' with Nancy | |
| 1967–1968 | Do Blondes Have More Fun? | |
| 1967–1968 | ||
| 1968 | Rise and Fall of the Third Reich | |
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | California | |
| 1968 | With Love, Sophia | |
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | On the Trail of Stanley and Livingstone | |
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | ||
| 1968 | ||
| 1969 | ||
| 1969 | If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium | |
| 1969 | ||
| 1970 | ||
| 1970 | I Love My Wife | |
| 1970–1972 | ||
| 1971 | Say Goodbye | |
| 1971 | They've Killed President Lincoln | |
| 1971 | ||
| 1971 | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory | |
| 1971–1973 | Appointment With Destiny | |
| 1972 | King, Queen, Knave | |
| 1972 | One Is a Lonely Number | |
| 1972 | ||
| 1972 | Republican Party Films | |
| 1972 | Make Mine Red, White and Blue | |
| 1972 | Top of The Month (3 half-hour specials) | |
| 1972 | Of Thee I Sing | |
| 1972–1973 | The Explorers | |
| 1973 | ||
| 1973 | Wattstax | |
| 1973 | Visions of Eight | |
| 1973–1974 | Primal Man Specials | |
| 1973–1975 | ||
| 1974 | This Week In The NBA (Series of 20 half-hours) | |
| 1974 | NBA Game of the Week Featurettes | |
| 1974 | Get Christie Love! | |
| 1974 | Judgment Specials | |
| 1974 | ||
| 1974 | Unwed Father | |
| 1974 | Men of the Dragon | |
| 1974 | ||
| 1974 | Love from A to Z | |
| 1974 | Birds Do It, Bees Do It | |
| 1974 | ||
| 1974 | Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus | |
| 1974–1975 | Get Christie Love! | |
| 1974–1975 | Smithsonian Specials | |
| 1974–1975 | Sandburg's Lincoln | |
| 1974–1976 | Chico and the Man | |
| 1975 | Death Stalk | |
| 1975 | I Will Fight No More Forever | |
| 1975–1976 | Welcome Back, Kotter | |
| 1976 | Brenda Starr | |
| 1976 | Collision Course | |
| 1976 | ||
| 1976 | ||
| 1976 | Victory At Entebbe | |
| 1976 | Mysteries of the Great Pyramids | |
| 1977 | Roots | |
| 1978 | ||
| 1978 | The Little Mermaid (Anderusen dowa: Ningyo hime or Andersen Story: The Mermaid Princess) | |
| 1978 | ||
| 1980 | ||
| 1980 | Moviola | |
| 1981 | This Is Elvis | |
| 1981 | ||
| 1981 | Small World | |
| 1981 | Murder Is Easy | |
| 1982 | ||
| 1982 | Casablanca | |
| 1983 | ||
| 1984 | XXIIIrd Olympiad, Los Angeles 1984 | |
| 1984 | His Mistress | |
| 1985 | North and South | |
| 1986 | ||
| 1986 | Liberty Weekend | |
| 1987 | ||
| 1987 | ||
| 1988 | What Price Victory | |
| 1988 | ||
| 1988 | ||
| 1989 | ||
| 1989 | Murder in Mississippi | |
| 1990 | Warner Bros. Celebration of Tradition, June 2, 1990 | |
| 1990 | Dillinger | |
| 1990 | When You Remember Me | |
| 1991 | Best of the Worst | |
| 1991 | Bed of Lies | |
| 1992 | Celebrations | |
| 1992 | ||
| 1993 | ||
| 1993 | ||
| 1994 | ||
| 1994 | On Trial | |
| 1994 | Golf - The Greatest Game | |
| 1994 | Heroes of the Game | |
| 1994 | Without Warning | |
| 1994 | Murder in the First | |
| 1995 | Prince for a Day | |
| 1996 | ||
| 1996 | Surviving Picasso | |
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential | |
| 1998 | Terror at the Mall | |
| 1998 | Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary Show | |
| 1998 | ||
| 1998 | Confirmation | |
| 1998 | Legends, Icons and Superstars | |
| 1999 | To Serve and Protect | |
| 1999 | Celebrate the Century |