Richard Donner (April 24, 1930-July 5, 2021) was an American film director, comic book writer and film producer.
After directing the horror film The Omen (1976), Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern superhero film, Superman: The Movie (1978), starring Christopher Reeve. The influence of this film eventually helped establish the superhero concept as a respected film genre.
Donner later went on to direct such films as The Goonies (1985) and Scrooged (1988), while reinvigorating the buddy film genre with Lethal Weapon (1987) and its sequels. He and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, own the production company The Donners' Company, which is most well known for producing the X-Men film series.
In 2000, he received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. He was also nominated for Best Director in 1978 for Superman. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner had "emerged as one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters".