Michael Nathanson (film executive)

Nathanson was raised in New York City, the son of Edith (née Landesman) and Ted Nathanson. His father was a director at NBC including the original Tonight Show and the Today Show and later the coordinating producer for numerous national sporting events for NBC Sports.[2][3] His mother was a producer at ABC who worked on The Perry Como Show.[2][4] His paternal grandfather, Benedict Gimbel Jr., founded one of the first radio stations in Philadelphia[5][6] (his father was born Benedict Gimbel III but changed his surname to that of his mother).[2][3] His great-great-grandfather was Adam Gimbel, the founder of Gimbel Brothers department store. He has two sisters who are also in the industry, Laura Nathanson Knobloch, a vice president at Fox Television, and Carla Nathanson Hoffman, who worked on the David Letterman Show.[3][2][7][8]

Nathanson began his career at NBC Sports in New York City and then moved to Los Angeles in 1975[9] where he worked as a production assistant on the 1977 films, The Deep[10] and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.[9] From 1980 to 1984, he worked at United Artists.[1] In 1987, he went to work for Columbia Pictures[9] and in 1989,[11] was named as senior production executive and later president of worldwide production[1] where he oversaw the production of such films as Awakenings, The Prince of Tides, Boyz n the Hood, and A River Runs Through It.[11] In 1994, he was named as chairman and chief executive of Arnon Milchan's New Regency Productions where he oversaw such films as A Time to Kill, Tin Cup, Natural Born Killers, Heat, Free Willy, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home,[1] and Copycat.[11] In February 1997, Frank Mancuso hired him to serve as president of MGM Pictures replacing Mike Marcus.[1] At MGM, he oversaw the production of Windtalkers, Bandits, Rollerball, Killing Me Softly, and Hart's War.[10] He stayed at MGM for seven years and the took a position as CEO of production at ONC Entertainment[12] where he oversaw such films as L.A. Confidential, Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach, and Yours, Mine & Ours. In 2012, Nathanson was named along with Bill Lischak as co-presidents of OddLot Entertainment by its CEO and founder, Gigi Pritzker.[13]

In 1990, he married Diana Victoria Lands.[14]