DIRECTOR · BORN 1946
Steven Spielberg
- Born
- 18 December 1946, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Known for
- Jurassic Park (1993), Star Wars (1977), Back to the Future (1985), Amadeus (1984)
113 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Steven Spielberg (born 18 December 1946) is a director best known for Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Back to the Future.
Steven Spielberg over the years
113 Interesting Facts About Steven Spielberg
Interesting Facts (26)
- #001
Steven Spielberg was the first living person to have a playable Lego mini-figure modelled after him. It was sold with several sets as part of the Lego Studios product range in the early 2000s.
- #002
He has one of the original Rosebud sleds from Citizen Kane (1941) in his house.
- #003
At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con panel for The Adventures of Tintin, Steven Spielberg invited a fan onto the stage with him and Peter Jackson. The fan had gone up to ask a question and was wearing a T-shirt stating how he'd love to meet Steven Spielberg; Spielberg waved him to come up on stage.
- #004
According to his interview on the series Inside the Actors Studio (1994), his favorite curse word is "Rats!"
- #005
Although close friend George Lucas has vowed to only shoot future movies digitally, Spielberg has been the most vocal filmmaker of the opposing view: to continue shooting all of his movies on film. Other directors siding with Spielberg include Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone.
- #006
When Spielberg re-enrolled at Cal State Long Beach decades after dropping out, he was given three course credits in paleontology for having made the movie Jurassic Park (1993).
- #007
He described One Froggy Evening (1955) as "the most perfect cartoon ever made".
- #008
To date, he has never provided a director's commentary on any of his films' DVDs.
- #009
While watching a rough cut of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), unlike director George Lucas and other colleagues, he was the only one who believed that this film would be really successful. He called it "the biggest movie of all time" and correctly predicted that it would make millions of dollars.
- #010
He once screened Lawrence of Arabia (1962) with director David Lean, who gave Spielberg a "live director's commentary", as Spielberg put it. Spielberg said that it was one of the best moments of his life, learning from a true master. Consequently, Spielberg stated that it helped him make better pictures and that commentary directly influenced every movie he has made since.
- #011
He was directing a childbirth scene when he received a call that Amy Irving was giving birth to their son Max Spielberg.
- #012
His longtime friend George Lucas originally wanted him to direct the third entry of the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and Spielberg was eager to do so, but Lucas was unsuccessful in getting him the job because of his dispute with the Director's Guild at the time.
- #013
He is a huge fan of the actors Steve Martin, Bill Murray and Robin Williams. He is also proud to admit they are good friends of his.
- #014
He turned down the opportunity to direct Deep Impact (1998) and The Mask of Zorro (1998) to work on Saving Private Ryan (1998).
- #015
Although close friend, George Lucas, has vowed to only shoot future movies digitally, Spielberg has been the most vocal film-maker of the opposing view: to continue shooting all of his movies on film. Other directors siding with Spielberg include Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone.
- #016
Aside from producing The Goonies (1985), he also directed at least one scene in the movie.
- #017
According to Teri Garr, Spielberg told her on a set that one of his favorite movies is Viva Las Vegas (1964), starring Elvis Presley.
- #018
Although a known supporter of tighter gun controls in the U.S., he owns one of the largest gun collections on the East Coast. He shoots, but only privately. He is also an excellent shot with a shotgun. Actor Shia LaBeouf once said about his shooting, "He's an Olympic shot. The hand-eye co-ordination of that man is unlike anything I've ever seen. If he weren't a great director, he could be one of our greatest snipers".
- #019
Steven Spielberg was the first living person to have a playable Lego mini-figure modelled after him. It was sold with several sets as part of the Lego Studios product range in the early 2000s.
- #020
He is the most represented filmmaker on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with five films on the list and three in the top ten. They are: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) at #58; The Color Purple (1985) at #51; Saving Private Ryan (1998) at #10; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) at #6 and Schindler's List (1993) at #3.
- #021
He is an Eagle Scout and was on an advisory board for the Boy Scouts of America. He left this position because he did not agree with the fact that the Boy Scouts of America discriminated against homosexuals.
- #022
Gremlins (1984), the Back to the Future trilogy and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) were all produced by Spielberg and all have eccentric inventors who create madcap inventions with pet dogs, Barney, Einstein and Uncas.
- #023
Gwyneth Paltrow calls him Uncle Morty.
- #024
Michael Kahn has edited all of Spielberg's theatrical features since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), their first collaboration. Kahn did not, however, edit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) because he was editing Poltergeist (1982). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was edited by Carol Littleton.
- #025
He was a big fan of Twin Peaks (1990) and he was set to direct the first episode of the second season of the show before David Lynch decided to direct the episode himself.
- #026
According to friend and veteran film editor Michael Kahn, Spielberg will not watch a cut of his film without temp music (temporary score).
Production Story (30)
- #027
In the early 1990s, he was often linked in the British media to making a possible movie version of the long-running BBC science-fiction television series Doctor Who (1963), which had been canceled as an ongoing series in 1989.
- #028
He spent five months developing the script for Rain Man (1988) with Ron Bass, but had to commit to his handshake deal to direct Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Spielberg gave all of his notes to Barry Levinson.
- #029
His longtime friend George Lucas originally wanted him to direct the third entry of the original Star Wars trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), and Spielberg was eager to do so, but Lucas was unsuccessful in getting him the job because of his dispute with the Director's Guild at the time.
- #030
In 2003, he was set to produce a mini-series for Home Box Office (HBO) that would set out to debunk the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The mini-series, written by David Leland, would focus on the historical reality of life in 500 A.D., when Arthur was thought to be King, and would have no round table, Merlin, Lancelot, Excalibur or knights. Camelot itself would be shown to have been a simple Roman fort, and Arthur, named Artos in the film, would be portrayed as a humble blacksmith whose forging skills win him the English throne. It was expected to air sometime in 2004.
- #031
The first film he directed that was not scored by John Williams was The Color Purple (1985), which was scored by Quincy Jones.
- #032
He was originally set to direct Cape Fear (1991). He later recommended Martin Scorsese for the job and personally called the director, letting him know that this was a commercial film that had the potential to be a hit, which would give Scorsese more power to make his own films.
- #033
Michael Kahn has edited all of Spielberg's theatrical features since Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), their first collaboration. Kahn did not, however, edit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) because he was editing Poltergeist (1982). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) was edited by Carol Littleton.
- #034
He often casts new actors based on their performances in other works. He rarely requires auditions for major roles.
- #035
He was the co-founder (with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen) of DreamWorks/DreamWorks Animation/DreamWorks Pictures.
- #036
Chris Columbus sold scripts to Spielberg that became Gremlins (1984) and The Goonies (1985), but his career didn't fully take off until he directed Home Alone (1990) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), which then led to the even greater success of the first two Harry Potter films.
- #037
According to friend and veteran film editor Michael Kahn, Spielberg will not watch a cut of his film without temp music (temporary score).
- #038
When promoting A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), which he wrote, he was asked why he had not written a film in the 19 years since Poltergeist (1982). He replied that the gap was not that long because he actually does rewrites on many of the scripts that he directs.
- #039
Spielberg and his Amblin production company produced their first five films I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Used Cars (1980), Continental Divide (1981), Poltergeist (1982) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) before getting his own production logo with Gremlins (1984) and Fandango (1985) before getting his own animated logo with The Goonies (1985). Likewise, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), the first film Spielberg produced and directed, was produced by his Amblin production company before his production logo started to appear in Spielberg-directed movies like The Color Purple (1985) (save for Schindler's List (1993), Amistad (1997), Minority Report (2002) and The Post (2017), which are all produced by Amblin, though only the print logo appears in publicity for Schindler's List and Minority Report).
- #040
Spielberg wanted drums on The Lost World: Jurassic Park's soundtrack to give it a more jungle ethnic flavour to drive the music and give it more texture.
- #041
In April 2016, it was announced that Spielberg would direct The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, the true story of a Jewish boy who was kidnapped by Papal authorities in 1850s Bologna and raised in the Catholic Church. The film was slated for a late 2017 release. The screenplay had been written by Tony Kushner, adapted from David I. Kertzer's book. Mark Rylance was cast as Pope Pius IX, with Oscar Isaac to play Mortara as an adult. By early 2017, however, the project had stalled due to the director's difficulty in finding a child actor to portray the young Mortara, and Spielberg turned his attention to directing The Post (2017) instead. Marco Bellocchio subsequently directed his own version of the story, Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara (2023).
- #042
Burt Reynolds film "White Lightning" (1973) was originally slated to be Spielberg's first theatrical feature and he spent months on pre-production.
- #043
He is at his most productive and creative when working on more than one project at a time, whether as producer, director, or both: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Poltergeist (1982); Schindler's List (1993) and Jurassic Park (1993); War Horse (2011) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011), among others.
- #044
He was a big fan of Twin Peaks (1990) and he was set to direct the first episode of the second season of the show before David Lynch decided to direct the episode himself.
- #045
Early in his career, while working for Universal Studios, he was asked to give a tour to a special guest who had just sold the film rights to one of his books to the studio. That guest was Michael Crichton, who later worked with Spielberg on Jurassic Park (1993).
- #046
He was asked to approve use of the theme music from Jaws (1975) for Swingers (1996). When he saw a cut of the film, he saw Vince Vaughn, whom he chose to play Nick Van Owen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).
- #047
He had to drop out of directing Rain Man (1988) as he was already contracted to direct Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
- #048
He has always been very protective of his name. If his company is working on a film and he feels it is not up to his standards, he will remove his name as a producer.
- #049
He flew Will Smith to his Hamptons home via helicopter to offer him the part in Men in Black (1997).
- #050
After seeing their music video for "Alright", he proposed to the band Supergrass that they work together on a television show in the style of The Monkees (1965). The group turned him down, preferring to work on their second album "In It for the Money".
- #051
After having a great working relationship with Spielberg on Gremlins (1984), Spielberg produced the next two films Chris Columbus scripted: The Goonies (1985), based on an idea Spielberg had, and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which was Columbus's idea. Altogether, Columbus spent two years working on those three films. Spielberg then wanted Columbus to script Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a big step for Columbus as a writer. He accepted and went to meet Spielberg and George Lucas, two men he was very intimidated by, even though he had worked with Spielberg three times, and they were two of his cinematic heroes. Columbus acted as Spielberg and Lucas's secretary on The Last Crusade for five days, taking down all their ideas. Lucas dictated the screenplay to Columbus, making him fearful of changing any of it, and that went against what Columbus had learned at film school. To him, the script seemed lifeless and without energy, and there was nothing of Columbus in it. Columbus assumed Spielberg hired him for that last reason, and when Columbus turned in the draft, he was fired from the picture for all the above flaws in the script. It was a defining moment in Columbus's career: never again to ignore his base instincts on a movie, or to be intimidated by the people he worked with.
- #052
He personally offered the American Beauty (1999) script to Sam Mendes, who ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Director on the film, which was Mendes's debut feature.
- #053
When he used product placement in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), he used Reese's Pieces only because M & M's parent company didn't want their product associated with aliens and UFOs.
- #054
He was irked when footage from his movie Duel (1971) was used as stock footage in an episode of The Incredible Hulk (1977). But since Universal Studios owned the rights to both the The Incredible Hulk series and the film of Duel, taking legal action was not possible. However, he subsequently updated his contracts to include a clause that would protect his future material from being used as stock footage.
- #055
He almost directed Big (1988) with Tom Hanks starring, but didn't want to steal the thunder of his sister, Anne Spielberg, who co-wrote the script.
- #056
After having a great working relationship with Spielberg on Gremlins (1984), Spielberg produced the next two films Chris Columbus scripted, The Goonies (1985), based on an idea Spielberg had, and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which was Columbus's idea, which altogether was two years working on those three films. Spielberg then wanted Columbus to script Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a big step for Columbus as a writer. He accepted and went to meet Spielberg and George Lucas, two men he was very intimidated by, even though he had worked with Spielberg three times, and they were two of his cinematic heroes. Columbus acted as Spielberg and Lucas's secretary on The Last Crusade for five days taking down all their ideas. Lucas dictated the screenplay to Columbus making him fearful of changing any of it, and that went against what Columbus had learned at film school. To him, the script seemed lifeless and without energy and there was nothing of Columbus in it. Columbus assumed Spielberg hired him for that last reason and when Columbus turned in the draft, he was fired from the picture for all the above flaws in the script. It was a defining moment in Columbus's career, to never again ignore his base instincts on a movie, or to be intimidated by the people he worked with.
Behind the Scenes (2)
- #057
Aside from producing The Goonies (1985), he also directed at least one scene in the movie.
- #058
His dog Elmer starred in several of his films including Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Characters & Cast (7)
- #059
He has made two films that, between them, feature three former U.S. Presidents. He has hired a British actor to play the President each time: Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren and Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams in Amistad (1997), and Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln in Lincoln (2012).
- #060
The first major star he worked with was Joan Crawford, who appeared in the segment of the pilot episode for Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1969) that he directed. Crawford was initially skeptical about working with the then-inexperienced director, but her fears were soon allayed when she met him and watched him at work. He, meanwhile, was surprised to find that Crawford was not demanding and made none of the outlandish requests that stars of her caliber were usually known to make. On the contrary, she was happy to give him advice about various aspects of filmmaking that she had learned throughout her years in motion pictures, and gave him a lot of much-needed encouragement. They quickly developed a strong working relationship, and as a result of her kindness they became close friends, remaining so until her death.
- #061
Though he frequently works with Tom Hanks, Hanks was not involved in Lincoln (2012), Spielberg's biopic about Abraham Lincoln, even though he is descended from the family of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks.
- #062
He claims Richard Dreyfuss is his alter-ego.
- #063
He claims Richard Dreyfuss is his alter-ego.
- #064
Burt Reynolds film "White Lightning" (1973) was originally slated to be Spielberg's first theatrical feature and he spent months on pre-production.
- #065
Though he frequently works with Tom Hanks, Hanks was not involved in Lincoln (2012), Spielberg's biopic about Abraham Lincoln, even though he is descended from the family of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks.
Easter Eggs & References (8)
- #066
In the novelization for Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), there is the line "sixth sense"; Frank Marshall produced this and The Sixth Sense (1999), and Spielberg later directed Haley Joel Osment, the star of the latter film, in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).
- #067
He has worked with four actors from the Hannibal Lecter film series, in reverse order to the order in which the Lecter films came out. The first one he worked with was Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List (1993), who went on to play Francis Dollarhyde in Red Dragon (2002). His next film was The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), with Julianne Moore, who played Clarice Starling in the third Lecter film, Hannibal (2001). After this, he made Amistad (1997), with Anthony Hopkins, who began playing Hannibal Lecter in the second film, The Silence of the Lambs (1991). After this he made Saving Private Ryan (1998), which featured Dennis Farina, who played Jack Crawford in the original Lecter film, Manhunter (1986).
- #068
Both live-action adaptations of "The Incredible Hulk" have references to his films. The first used stock footage from Duel (1971). In the 2003 film by Ang Lee, Hulk (2003), the impact of the Hulk hitting the ground causes ripples to form in nearby bodies of water, just as the Tyrannosaur does in Jurassic Park (1993).
- #069
In Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), that film mentions bats, snakes, spiders and rats; these would appear in all the Indiana Jones films, Arachnophobia (1990) and The Goonies (1985), films either produced or directed by Spielberg.
- #070
Spielberg had directed Columbo: Murder by the Book (1971), the very first episode of that famous series (not counting two pilot films). In the 3rd season episode Mind Over Mayhem (1974), screenwriters Steven Bochco and Dean Hargrove named the boy genius character Steve Spelberg. That episode was in production (airing in February) while Spielberg's breakthrough theatrical film The Sugarland Express (1974) was generating industry buzz prior to its April release.
- #071
Gremlins (1984), the Back to the Future trilogy and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) were all produced by Spielberg and all have eccentric inventors who create madcap inventions with pet dogs, Barney, Einstein and Uncas.
- #072
Both detectives Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Holmes in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) use magnifying glasses, and both were Spielberg productions.
- #073
In Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) and The Goonies (1985), Holmes and Data have much gadgetry on their person, like James Bond, and Spielberg and screenwriter Chris Columbus are huge Bond fans. Also, in the novelization for Holmes, it uses the words "a view to kill", and the Bond film A View to a Kill (1985) was made the same year.
Deeper Meaning (4)
- #074
In Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the humans and aliens use music and computers to communicate. Spielberg's father was a computer scientist and his mother was a musician. This fact was only recently pointed out to him on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) by host James Lipton and he was unsurprisingly delighted when he realised the connection.
- #075
When asked which of the films he has made he would like to be remembered for, he said E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler's List (1993).
- #076
When Spielberg received his undergraduate degree (about 35 years after he had first entered college), the orchestra played the theme from the "Indiana Jones" series of films as he walked up to and across the stage.
- #077
He has one of the original Rosebud sleds from Citizen Kane (1941) in his house.
Career & Awards (13)
- #078
He founded the Shoah foundation with the profits from Schindler's List (1993).
- #079
He formed The Amblin Production Company in 1969. After 10 years of being self-employed, Kathleen Kennedy was hired in 1979 while working on the film 1941 (1979), followed by Frank Marshall in 1980 while working on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He renamed his company Amblin Entertainment in 1984.
- #080
He has an estimated fortune of $2.8 billion ($2,800,000,000), according to the "Los Angeles Business Journal". The size of his fortune makes him the 14th richest person in the Los Angeles area and likely the wealthiest producer-director in the world (with only his friend George Lucas coming close).
- #081
He presented the Oscar for Best Director at the 57th Academy Awards in 1985. The winner was Miloš Forman for Amadeus (1984). During the presentation, Spielberg paid tribute to his friend François Truffaut who had recently died.
- #082
When he was a child, he sneaked onto the lot of Universal Studios during a tour and befriended an editor who showed him a few things about filmmaking.
- #083
He was originally set to direct Cape Fear (1991). He later recommended Martin Scorsese for the job and personally called the director, letting him know that this was a commercial film that had potential to be a hit, which would exercise more power for Scorcese to make his films.
- #084
He, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola presented Martin Scorsese with his first ever award for Best Director, for The Departed (2006).
- #085
The first film he directed that was not scored by John Williams was The Color Purple (1985), which was scored by Quincy Jones.
- #086
He lost the Best Director Oscar to Ang Lee both in 2006 and 2013.
- #087
He was asked to approve use of the theme music from Jaws (1975) for Swingers (1996). When he saw a cut of the film, he saw Vince Vaughn, whom he chose to play Nick Van Owen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).
- #088
When Spielberg accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards he expressed his gratitude to DeMille for helping him come to love filmmaking in the first place, describing his earliest childhood memory of going to see DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) with his father. "I think my fate was probably sealed that day in 1952", he said, recalling how the train wreck scene in that film inspired first a keen interest in electric train sets and eventually his passion for film.
- #089
On 14 December 2002 he bought Bette Davis' Oscar, which she won for Dangerous (1935), at a Sotheby's auction in New York to return it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statuette was among the memorabilia sold by the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, which has emerged from bankruptcy protection.
- #090
At the 57th Academy Awards in 1985, Spielberg took on the task of presenting the Best Director Oscar. The award went to Miloš Forman for Amadeus (1984). During the presentation, Spielberg commemorated his close friend François Truffaut, who had recently died, and paid his respects to him. This tribute was a sign of the friendship and mutual admiration between the two directors.
Life & Family (23)
- #091
When Spielberg accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards, he expressed his gratitude to DeMille for helping him come to love filmmaking in the first place, describing his earliest childhood memory of going to see DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) with his father. "I think my fate was probably sealed that day in 1952," he said, recalling how the train wreck scene in that film inspired first a keen interest in electric train sets and eventually his passion for film.
- #092
He attended the first AFI Life Achievement Award as a guest of his The Sugarland Express (1974) and Jaws (1975) producer Richard D. Zanuck, where Spielberg's lifelong hero John Ford was the honored recipient (Los Angeles, March 31, 1973).
- #093
He once screened Lawrence of Arabia (1962) with director David Lean, who gave Spielberg a "live director's commentary", as Spielberg put it. Spielberg said that it was one of the best moments of his life, learning from a true master. Consequently, Spielberg stated that it helped him make better pictures and that commentary directly influenced every movie he has made since.
- #094
He was directing a childbirth scene when he received a call that Amy Irving was giving birth to their son Max Spielberg.
- #095
He confessed to host James Lipton that he has a phobia about "furniture with feet" (Steven Spielberg (1999)).
- #096
He claims his family name "Spielberg" has Austrian origins meaning "Play Mountain" when translated into English.
- #097
When Spielberg received his undergraduate degree (about 35 years after he had first entered college), the orchestra played the theme from the "Indiana Jones" series of films as he walked up to and across the stage.
- #098
Although a known supporter of tighter gun controls in the U.S., he owns one of the largest gun collections on the East Coast. He shoots, but only privately. He is also an excellent shot with a shotgun. Actor Shia LaBeouf once said about his shooting, "He's an Olympic shot. The hand-eye co-ordination of that man is unlike anything I've ever seen. If he weren't a great director, he could be one of our greatest snipers".
- #099
On 14 December 2002 he bought Bette Davis' Oscar, which she won for Dangerous (1935), at a Sotheby's auction in New York to return it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The statuette was among the memorabilia sold by the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, which has emerged from bankruptcy protection.
- #100
His favorite indoor relaxation pursuits are watching golf on TV and playing his computer game "Assassin's Creed".
- #101
His father, Arnold Spielberg, was an innovator who worked on the first computer ever sold commercially, back in 1950.
- #102
He is the godfather of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow.
- #103
He and his wife Kate Capshaw are very close friends with Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband David E. Kelley. They often vacation together and went to the White House Correspondents' Dinner together.
- #104
He is an Eagle Scout and was on an advisory board for the Boy Scouts of America. He left this position because he did not agree with the fact that the Boy Scouts of America discriminated against homosexuals.
- #105
In February 2008, he pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, reacting to the Chinese government's inaction over the genocide in Darfur.
- #106
In 1996, he purchased Clark Gable's Oscar (which Gable won for It Happened One Night (1934)) to protect it from further commercial exploitation and gave it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, commenting that he could think of "no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy".
- #107
He is of Hungarian descent, which explains his surname, coming from the Austrian city where his ancestors lived.
- #108
When he was a child, he sneaked onto the lot of Universal Studios during a tour and befriended an editor who showed him a few things about filmmaking.
- #109
The film The Goonies (1985) was based on his group of childhood friends, which he referred to as the "goon squad.".
- #110
In Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the humans and aliens use music and computers to communicate. Spielberg's father was a computer scientist and his mother was a musician. This fact was only recently pointed out to him on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) by host James Lipton and he was unsurprisingly delighted when he realised the connection.
- #111
His father served in World War II in South East Asian Front.
- #112
A lifelong fan of the 007 movies, he named Honor Blackman as his favorite Bond girl.
- #113
He is at his most productive and creative when working on more than one project at a time, be it as producer and/or director: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) + Poltergeist (1982) / Schindler's List (1993) + Jurassic Park (1993) / War Horse (2011) + The Adventures of Tintin (2011), etc.
Related pages
- How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World — Steven Spielberg comes up in the facts on that page
- Matchstick Men — Steven Spielberg comes up in the facts on that page
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Steven Spielberg comes up in the facts on that page
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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