Jerry Bruckheimer is a renowned film and television producer born on September 21, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from high school in 1961 before moving to Arizona. Bruckheimer started his career in 1968, producing television commercials and advertising for the firm BBD&O in New York.
He left the commercial industry and branched out into film production, serving as an associate producer for Dick Richards on the films "The Culpepper Cattle Co." (1972) and "Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins" (1975). Bruckheimer then founded his own production company, Jerry Bruckheimer & Associates, and produced the films "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975) and "March or Die" (1977) before the duo broke up.
Bruckheimer then became an independent producer, working on films such as "American Gigolo" (1980),"Defiance" (1980),"Thief" (1981),"Cat People" (1982),and "Young Doctors in Love" (1982) throughout the early 1980s.
In 1979, Don Simpson met Bruckheimer while working on "American Gigolo" for Paramount. Simpson left Paramount Pictures to start his own independent company with a deal at Paramount, and weeks later, Simpson's production services were merged with Bruckheimer's.
