HERSKOVITZ, MARSHALL (1952– ) and ZWICK, EDWARD (1952– )

HERSKOVITZ, MARSHALL (1952– ) and ZWICK, EDWARD (1952– ), U.S. writers-directors-producers. Born Marshall Schreiber to Alexander Herskovitz and Frieda (née Schreiber), Herskovitz grew up in Philadelphia, where his maternal grandfather was president of Har Zion Conservative Synagogue. In 1973, Herskovitz adapted Beowulf as a screenplay for his senior thesis at Brandeis University. Herskovitz earned an MFA from the American Film Institute in 1978. He went on to write and direct television programs such as Family (1979), The White Shadow (1979–80), and Chips (1980). Zwick was born in Chicago, Ill., to Allen Zwick and Ruth (née Reich). After graduating from Harvard, he studied theater in Europe on a Rockefeller fellowship before graduating from the American Film Institute in 1975. He took first place in a student film competition at the 1976 Chicago Film Festival and was offered the job of story editor on Family. In 1983, Herskovitz and Zwick teamed up for the made-for-television film Special Bulletin, which won two Emmy Awards. In 1985, they created The Bedford Falls Company, which was named after the town in It's a Wonderful Life. In 1986, Zwick directed his first feature film, About Last Night, followed by such projects as Glory (1989), which won 1989 Academy Awards for acting, cinematography, and sound; Courage Under Fire (1996); and The Siege (1998). Their first television project was the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series thirtysomething (1987–91). Herskovitz followed this with the film Jack the Bear (1993). Then came the duo's Legends of the Fall (1994), which Zwick directed. In 1994, they also produced the short-lived but highly acclaimed television series My So-Called Life, which was followed   by another short-lived series, Relativity (1996). In 2000, Herskovitz and Zwick produced the Oscar-winning film Traffic, and Zwick received an Oscar as producer with Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax for Shakespeare in Love (1998). Later, the two tackled a 40-something-themed television show, Once and Again (1999), as well as the films I Am Sam (2001) and The Last Samurai (2003). (Adam Wills (2nd ed.)