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Michael Schultz, who was known as "Mike" growing up, attended Riverside High School in Milwaukee, where he was a very active student. He played baseball, football and participated in student theater productions.
Jun 7, 2022 · The movies of Michael Schultz, like “Cooley High,” “Car Wash,” and “Krush Groove” have given joy, drama and great jams to millions around the world. The Milwaukee native was one of the first and most successful directors in Hollywood to bring the lives of Black Americans to the forefront of his films.
Sep 1, 2022 · Though he didn’t know it, Schultz had already begun an improbable course that would take him to the heart of the mainstream film and television industry, where he has essentially remained for...
- Reggie Ugwu
- At A Glance…
- From Stage to Television and Film
- Made A Splash with Car Wash
- The Failure of Sgt. Pepper
- The Mid-1980S: The Dawn of A Comeback
- Livin’ Large! Revived Career
- Sources
Born November 10, 1938, in Milwaukee, Wl; son of Leo (an insurance salesman) and Katherine (a factory worker) Schultz; married wife, Gloria (an actress; stage name, Lauren Jones). Education: Attended the University of Wisconsin; received B.F.A. in theater from Marquette University. Director of theater productions, 1966—, and television and film pro...
Schultz decided to make the move to Hollywood after seeing Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, the 1971 breakthrough film directed by Melvin Van Peebles. “Sweetback proved to Hollywood that there was an underserved portion of the filmgoing market,” Schultz told Time. “And when I saw it, I said, ‘I can do that.’” The success of Sweet Sweetback ‘s Baa...
With a bankable first feature in his briefcase, Schultz began taking on quality projects with black stars. Car Wash, an earthy comedy centering on the escapades of employees at a Los Angeles car wash, was the first of several Richard Pryor pictures directed by Schultz. Despite Universal’s reluctance to book it in white theaters upon its release in ...
After making his mark as a director of comedies with black stars, Schultz was recruited by entertainment mogul Robert Stigwood to direct Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a musical based on songs by English rock legends the Beatles. With a $12 million budget and such 1970s stars including the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, Sgt. Pepperwas the lar...
Schultz didn’t have another major success until 1985 when he directed The Last Dragon, a send-up of martial arts films that the Chicago Sun Times called “outrageously funny.” Like many of his early comedies, The Last Dragon drew its humor from observations of ghetto life. A Village Voice reviewer lauded its lampooning of “the way blacks dip into ot...
Schultz’s contribution to what some called a “new wave of Black cinema” was 1991’s Livin’ Large!, an updated version of the kind of comedy that first gained him recognition. Livin’ Large! is a morality play about a young black man whose dream of being a TV news reporter becomes a reality. One day he picks up a fallen newsman’s microphone and walks ...
Atlanta Journal and Constitution,October 6, 1991, p. N4. Chicago Sun Times,August 17, 1987; September 20, 1991. Chicago Tribune,October 25, 1985, p. 7J. Ebony,September 1978. Emerge,August 1992, pp. 41-42. Essence,April 1984. Houston Chronicle,August 18, 1991. Kansas City Star,September 20, 1991. Los Angeles Times,September 20, 1991, p. F19; Februa...
Sep 30, 2021 · The most prolific African American director in Hollywood prior to Spike’s arrival in the late 1980s, Schultz directed 14 commercial features between 1972 and 2004. He has also had equally important parallel careers directing for both the stage and television.
Nov 13, 2014 · Michael Schultz, the legendary Tony-nominated and award-winning director of stage and screen, best known for his groundbreaking, coming-of-age film classic “Cooley High,” was recently in New...
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More recently, Schultz has worked in television, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Schultz was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
