Gerald W. Abrams

Gerald W. Abrams has produced over 70 films. He is best known for *Houdini* (2014), *Nuremberg* (2000), and *Family of Spies* (1990). *Houdini* is Cable Television's top-rated miniseries of 2014. Abrams has been nominated for two Emmys, the most recent for *Nuremberg*, a dramatized account of the war crime trials following the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII. *Nuremberg* was a four-hour miniseries for Turner Network Television starring Alec Baldwin and Christopher Plummer and directed by Yves Simoneau. Premiered in July 2000, the film was one of the highest-rated cable miniseries in history; it received three Golden Globe nominations, a PGA Award nomination, and four Primetime Emmy nominations; it won the award for Outstanding Single Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie, and Brian Cox won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his performance. The film also won four Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmys) out of several nominations. Abrams graduated from Penn State University and began his television career with WCBS-TV as an account executive. He worked his way up through CBS Television national sales to head the West Coast Sales. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed general sales manager of KCBS-TV, the CBS-owned station in Los Angeles. In 1976, Abrams executive produced *The Secret Life of John Chapman*. The film starred Ralph Waite, Susan Anspach, and Richard Arnold. It is the true story of John Chapman, a college president who took a sabbatical and went out and got a job as a general laborer to try to experience life outside his well-ordered but insulated college environment. *The Secret Life of John Chapman* was produced for CBS and generated a 44 share. *The Defection of Simas Kudirka* was executive produced by Abrams in 1978. It is based on the true story of the attempted defection in 1970 by a Lithuanian seaman seeking political asylum in the United States. Kudirka was denied asylum and returned to the Soviets, charged with treason, and sentenced to ten years of hard labor. It was later discovered and verified that his mother had been born in Brooklyn and gone to Lithuania at a young age, which meant she was a U.S. citizen. As a result, Kudirka was declared a U.S. citizen and in 1974 released by the Soviets. *The Defection of Simas Kudirka* was nominated for five Emmys; David Lowell Rich won for Outstanding Directing in a Special Program, and John A. Martinelli won for Outstanding Film Editing for a Special. Abrams formed his own company, Cypress Point Productions, in 1978. Through Cypress Point, he executive produced *Letters From Frank*, starring Art Carney and introducing Michael J. Fox; *The Gift*, starring Glenn Ford and Julie Harris; *Act Of Love*, starring Ron Howard and Mickey Rourke; *Berlin Tunnel 21*, starring Richard Thomas and Horst Buchholz; *Marian Rose White*, starring Katherine Ross and Valerie Perrine; the CBS series *Cutter To Houston*, starring Alec Baldwin; *Found Money*, starring Dick Van Dyke and Sid Caesar; *Scorned And Swindled*, starring Tuesday Weld; *Florence Nightingale*; and the Emmy Award-winning *A Woman Called Golda*, starring Ingrid Bergman for Operation Primetime. *Flesh & Blood* was executive produced by Abrams in 1979, starring Tom Berenger, Denzel Washington, and John Cassavetes. The film is about a convict who takes up boxing in prison, which brings a new meaning to his life. Once out, his trainer motivates him to become a professional boxer. He cares about only two other things, his uncomfortably close mother and absent father. Cassavetes was nominated for an Emmy as an Outstanding Supporting Actor. *Berlin Tunnel 21* was executive produced by Abrams in 1981. The film starred Richard Thomas, Horst Buchholz, and José Ferrer. An American soldier and a German engineer join forces in Berlin, 1961, to build a tunnel under the Berlin Wall in order to smuggle out refugees, including the soldier's East German girlfriend. Abrams formed Phoenix Entertainment Group with Gerald Isenberg in July 1985. In February 1989, Phoenix was acquired by The Hearst Corporation and renamed Hearst Entertainment Productions, where he served as co-chairman for eight years. In 1996, Jennifer Alward, who was of Morgan Hill Films, and Gerald W. Abrams formed Evolve Entertainment, folding Morgan Hill Films with them. They later parted ways in 1999. Based on the best-selling novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen, Abrams executive produced *Black and Blue*. The film was written and adapted by April Smith and starred Mary Stuart Masterson and Anthony LaPaglia for CBS and debuted in 1999. The film is about Frances Benedetto, a victim of domestic violence. The movie follows Frances's relationship to her increasingly abusive NYCPD officer husband, who has the police force on his side, and her eventual escape to Florida with her son. In 2003, Abrams executive produced *44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out*, the FX Network's highest-rated show in its nine-year history. In 2003, Abrams executive produced the Emmy-nominated television movie *Out of the Ashes* for Showtime,