Robert Emile Relyea (May 3, 1930 - March 5, 2013) was an American film producer and executive.
[Lang, Derrik J. (March 16, 2013)]
Robert Relyea dies but leaves Hollywood legacy.
''Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'' He was known for several films produced in collaboration with
Steve McQueen. Relyea served as President of Production at
MGM/United Artists (MGM/UA) from 1997 to 2001.
[King, Susan (March 17, 2013)]
Robert Relyea dies at 82; film producer and MGM/UA executive.
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''
Life and career
Relyea was born in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
. He attended UCLA and was a member of
Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Sig, is an intercollegiate men's social fraternity with 181 active chapters and provisional chapters. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest Greek letter fraternity in the United States.
The ...
fraternity. Relyea began his career in 1955 as a crew member at MGM. He worked with director
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His films include ''Bad Day at Black Rock'' (1955), '' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), '' The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), '' The Great Escape'' (19 ...
as assistant director on the 1959 World War II film ''
Never So Few
''Never So Few'' is a 1959 CinemaScope Metrocolor war film, directed by John Sturges and starring Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Steve McQueen, Richard Johnson, Paul Henreid, Brian Donlevy, Dean Jones, Charles Bronson, and Ph ...
'' and the 1960 western, ''
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 ...
.'' He also worked as an Assistant Director for
John Wayne on ''
The Alamo'' and
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...
and
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television.
Among his nu ...
on ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
.'' Wise was so impressed with Relyea he offered him a job running his production company as a partner but Relyea felt indebted to Sturges and joined his production company, Alpha Corp Development Pvt Ltd., in 1961. There, he worked on the 1963 film ''
The Great Escape'', starring
Steve McQueen where he shot many of the night scenes and doubled for James Garner in the flying sequences, including crashing the stolen plane, which sent Relyea to the hospital with lifelong injuries. He also worked with Sturges on ''
The Satan Bug
''The Satan Bug'' is a 1965 American crime science fiction suspense film from United Artists, produced and directed by John Sturges, that stars George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, and Dana Andrews. The screenplay by James Clavell a ...
, ''and'' ''
The Hallelujah Trail
''The Hallelujah Trail'' is a 1965 American Western mockumentary spoof directed by John Sturges, with top-billed stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin. It was based on the book of the same title (originally released as ...
.
Relyea was also a sort of in-house production executive for
The Mirisch Company
The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures Inc., Miris ...
where he worked on many of their productions for
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
, including
William Wyler
William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of ...
's ''
The Children's Hour,'' ''
633 Squadron
''633 Squadron'' is a 1964 British / American war film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris, and Maria Perschy. The plot, which involves the exploits of a fictional World War II British bomber squadron, wa ...
,'' ''
Kings of the Sun
''Kings of the Sun'' is a 1963 DeLuxe Color film directed by J. Lee Thompson for Mirisch Productions set in Mesoamerica at the time of the conquest of Chichen Itza by Hunac Ceel. Location scenes filmed in Mazatlán and Chichen Itza. The film mar ...
,"' ''and Blake Edward's second Inspector Clouseau film, ''
A Shot in the Dark.'' Relyea then joined McQueen to run his Solar Productions in 1966, producing ''
Bullitt
''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleine ...
'' in 1968 and ''
The Reivers'' in 1969. Following the commercial failure of ''
Le Mans'' in 1971, they ended their partnership, and Relyea returned to MGM/UA in 1993 after working as an independent producer in film and television and heading production at Paramount Studios. He oversaw production on several
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
films, including ''
GoldenEye
''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the se ...
'', ''
Tomorrow Never Dies
''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...
'', ''
The World Is Not Enough
''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Michael Apted, from an ...
'' and ''
Die Another Day
''Die Another Day'' is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film st ...
''.''
Relyea was highly respected in the film industry and California governor
Pete Wilson
Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as a United States senator from California betw ...
appointed him chair of the
California Film Commission
The California Film Commission (CFC) was founded in 1985 by then California Governor George Deukmejian to act in an economic development capacity for the state. It is a part of the California Trade and Commerce Agency, formerly the Business, Trans ...
in 1996. Relyea's 2008 autobiography, "Not So Quiet on the Set," described film production during "Hollywood's macho era."
[Relyea, Rober, with Craig Relyea (2008). ''Not So Quiet on the Set: My Life in Movies During Hollywood's Macho Era.'' iUniverse, ] He died of natural causes in
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tr ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Relyea, Robert
1930 births
2013 deaths
American film producers