James S. Abrahams (born May 10, 1944) is an American movie director and writer, best known as a member of

Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (abbreviated to ZAZ) were an American comedy filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker who specialized in writing slapstick comedy films during the 1980s. History David Zucker, J ...

Life and career

Abrahams was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Shorewood, Wisconsin, the son of Louise M. (née Ogens), an educational researcher, and Norman S. Abrahams, a lawyer. He attended Shorewood High School. He has a home in

Eagle River, Wisconsin Eagle River is a city in Vilas County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,398 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Vilas County. Because of the many lakes in the area, the city is a popular vacation and retirement destinat ...

where he has spent summers since he was a child.Up-North Escape – All Ways Forward
Retrieved 2018-11-01. He may be best known for the

spoof Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to: * Forgery of goods or documents * Semen, in Australian slang * Spoof (game), a guessing game * Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets __NOTOC__ ...

movies that he co-wrote and produced with brothers

Jerry Zucker Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as ''Airplane!'' and '' Top Secret!'', and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film ' ...

and

David Zucker David Samuel Zucker (born October 16, 1947) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Associated mostly with parody comedies, Zucker is recognized as the director and writer of the critically successful 1980 film ''Airplane!'' ...

, such as ''

Airplane! ''Airplane!'' (alternatively titled ''Flying High!'') is a 1980 American parody film written and directed by the brothers David Zucker, David and Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams in their directorial debuts, and produced by Jon Davison (film prod ...

'' (for which he was nominated for a

BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay The BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay is a British Academy Film Award for the best script. It was awarded from 1968 to 1982. In 1983 it was split into BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. 1960s * 1968 ...

) and ''

The Naked Gun ''The Naked Gun'' media franchise, also known as ''Police Squad!'', consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one ...

'' series. The team of

(also referred to as "ZAZ") really began when the three men grew up together in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. He directed movies on his own, such as ''

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

'', and further honed his skills in parody with ''

Hot Shots! ''Hot Shots!'' is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of ''Airplane!'', and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn ...

'' and its 1993 sequel, ''

Hot Shots! Part Deux ''Hot Shots! Part Deux'' is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna (parodying his Colonel role in the ''Rambo'' franchise), Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Ro ...

''. Abrahams and his wife, Nancy (née Cocuzzo) co-founded The Charlie Foundation To Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy.

Filmography

Films

Executive producer only

* ''

Cry-Baby ''Cry-Baby'' is a 1990 American teen musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Waters. It was the only film of Waters's over which studios were in a bidding war, coming off the heels of the successful '' Hairspray''. The film s ...

'' (1990) * '' The Naked Gun : The Smell of Fear'' (1991) * '' Naked Gun : The Final Insult'' (1994)

Acting roles

Television

Series

Other work

Acting roles

References

External links

*
biodata
The New York Times; accessed April 23, 2014.
Charlie's Story
accessed November 25, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahams, Jim 1944 births Living people American male screenwriters American parodists Filmmakers from Milwaukee Jewish American screenwriters Jewish American film directors Writers Guild of America Award winners People from Shorewood, Wisconsin People from Eagle River, Wisconsin Screenwriters from Wisconsin Film producers from Wisconsin Comedy film directors Parody film directors Shorewood High School (Wisconsin) alumni 21st-century American Jews