Gregg Champion (born November 20, 1956, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, known for his work on

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...

and TV Hollywood movies. His parents are

Marge Champion Marjorie Celeste Champion ( Belcher; September 2, 1919October 21, 2020) was an American dancer and actress. At fourteen, she was hired as a dance model for Walt Disney Studios animated films. Later, she performed as an actress and dancer in film ...

and

Gower Champion Gower Carlyle Champion (June 22, 1919 – August 25, 1980) was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer. Early years Champion was born on June 22, 1919, in Geneva, Illinois, as the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice ...

Work in Film & Television

After attending the USC School of Cinema, Gregg Champion apprenticed with several directors including Blake Edwards, Nicholas Roeg, and John Badham, with whom he shared an eight-year association. Champion's feature producing credits include "Blue Thunder"(Columbia) "Short Circuit"(Tri-Star) and "Stakeout"(Touchstone). Champion also served as the Action-Director on those films as well as the Warner Bros. bicycle racing movie "American Flyers" starring Kevin Costner. Champion's feature directing credits include the fish out of water action-comedy "The Cowboy Way" starring Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland (Universal), and the action-comedy "Short Time" starring Dabney Coleman and Teri Garr (Fox). Television Producing and Directing credits include the award-winning and Emmy-nominated "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn" starring Sidney Poitier, Dianne Wiest and Mary-Louise Parker as well as CBS Special Movie Presentations "Dodson's Journey" with Ellen Burstyn and Penelope Ann Miller and "The Last Brickmaker in America" again starring Sidney Poitier. Television Series include multiples of "The Magnificent Seven" for CBS/MGM and "Walker Texas Ranger" with Chuck Norris also for CBS. Other long-form movies Champion directed are the Emmy nominated drama "Miracle Run" starring Mary-Louise Parker, Aidan Quinn and Zac Efron, "Stealing Christmas" a romantic comedy starring Tony Danza, Lea Thompson, and Betty White for the USA Network, and the action-drama "14 Hours" for TNT for which Champion received the Christopher Award for best director. Champion received his second Christopher Award for directing "Amish Grace" starring Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Tammy Blanchard which became Lifetime Movie Network's highest rated original movie ever. Most recently, Champion choreographed some bullet-ridden action sequences with Emile Hirsch in the A&E 4hr. mini-series "Bonnie & Clyde" in which he served as the 2nd Unit Director and was Director of the gymnastics bio-pic "The Gabby Douglas Story"...a 2hr. Special Event Movie for Sony and Lifetime that was nominated for 4 NAACP Awards including best director as well as winning the 2015 Christopher Award for best movie.

Filmography

*'' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' (1981, producer) *''

Blue Thunder ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Gordon Carroll, Phil Feldman, and Andrew Fogelson and directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modifie ...

'' (1983, producer) *'' American Flyers'' (1985, producer) *''

Short Circuit A short circuit (sometimes abbreviated to short or s/c) is an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path with no or very low electrical impedance. This results in an excessive current flowing through the circuit ...

'' (1986, producer) *''

Stakeout Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

'' (1987, producer) *''

Short Time Short-time working or short time (in German: ) is a governmental unemployment insurance system in which private sector employees agree to or are forced to accept a reduction in working time and pay, with the state making up for all or part of the ...

'' (1990, director) *'' The Cowboy Way'' (1994, director) * "A Woman's Place" ''(Walker, Texas Ranger)'' (1997, director) *'' The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn'' (1999, producer and director) *''

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

'' (1999-2000, director, 5 episodes) *'' Dodson's Journey'' (2001, producer and director) *''

The Last Brickmaker in America ''The Last Brickmaker in America'' is a 2001 American drama television film directed by Gregg Champion and written by Richard Leder featuring Sidney Poitier, Piper Laurie, Jay O. Sanders, Wendy Crewson, Julian Adams, Mary Alice, the film was rel ...

'' (2001, producer and director) *''

Stealing Christmas ''Stealing Christmas'' is an American made for television comedy-drama film directed by Gregg Champion and starring Tony Danza, Lea Thompson and Angela Goethals. It premiered on USA Network in 2003. It was later broadcast in the 25 Days of Chri ...

'' (2003, producer and director) *''

Miracle Run ''Miracle Run'' is a 2004 Lifetime Television film starring Mary-Louise Parker, Zac Efron, Bubba Lewis, Aidan Quinn and Alicia Morton. Plot In a flashback, a single mother, Corrine Morgan-Thomas (Mary-Louise Parker) drives her seven-year-old twi ...

'' (2004, director) *''

14 Hours ''Fourteen Hours'' is a 1951 American drama directed by Henry Hathaway, which tells the story of a New York City police officer trying to stop a despondent man from jumping to his death from the 15th floor of a hotel. The film won critical accla ...

'' (2005, director) *''

Amish Grace ''Amish Grace'' is a television film that premiered on the Lifetime Movie Network on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010. The film is based on the 2006 West Nickel Mines School shooting at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and the spirit of forgiveness the Am ...

'' (2010, director) *''

Field of Vision The visual field is the "spatial array of visual sensations available to observation in introspectionist psychological experiments". Or simply, visual field can be defined as the entire area that can be seen when an eye is fixed straight at a point ...

'' (2011, director) *''

The Gabby Douglas Story ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2014, director)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Gregg Living people 1956 births American film directors American people of Jewish descent