Sherry Lansing

In "Hollywood Animal: A Memoir", Joe Eszterhas claims that Sherry Lansing, the boss of Paramount Pictures, asked him to issue a statement that he supported Paramount's hiring of William Friedkin as director for his Jade (1995) script. Friedkin was Lansing's husband, and she wanted protection from charges of nepotism. He issued the statement. In truth, Eszterhas did not want the former Oscar-winner, whom he considered a washed-up has-been, to direct the picture, but deferred to Lansing's wishes.
Became the first woman to head a major studio when she took control of 20th Century Fox in 1980.
Became chairperson of Paramount Pictures in 1992. Stepped down as chief executive officer in 2005.
Attended and graduated from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (1962).
Received her Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University (1966) with a Major in Speech and a Minor in Drama. Was a member of the Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. She attended Northwestern with her future husband Michael L. Brownstein.

[In a 1984 "Films in Review" interview] Once you run a studio, you find that as much as you enjoy it, you're getting farther and farther away from making movies. You're involved in a lot of administrative meetings, a lot of decisions about office space and parking lots, meetings with bankers and cash flow and five year plans, which is all stimulating, but you're not on the set that much, and you're two steps removed from movie making. It's the producers who are making the movie, and you're going to see the final cut. And if you go into this business because you loved making movies, the natural evolution of many presidents of film divisions is to form their own company, which means going back to movie making. It was really very orderly. I never leaped from story editor to production VP. It wasn't unusual: I worked and got promoted to the next step, and then worked some more, and got promoted to the next step
[In a 1984 interview] To anyone, providing they had a passion for it. It's very tough to get a movie made, and you better really love what you're doing, or you'll fall by the wayside. But if you love what you're doing, it is the most thrilling and satisfying profession in the world.
[In a 1989 interview] People see a big period piece and costumes and say, "Oh, my God!" They see Wall Street (1987) and don't realize how difficult it is to make Gordon Gekko look like Gordon Gekko.

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