Michael Schultz

Directing·Nov 10, 1938·Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

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Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Katherine Frances (née Leslie), a factory worker, and German American Leo Schultz, an insurance salesman. After his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University, he attended Princeton University, where in 1966 he directed his first play, a production of Waiting for Godot. He joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough was directing Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which he restaged for television in 1972. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby and Cooley High), reaching a peak with the ensemble comedy Car Wash (1976) and Which Way Is Up? (1977), starring Richard Pryor. In 1978, Schultz took the reins of the musical Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the largest budget ever entrusted to an African-American film director to that date. However, upon its release, the project was a commercial and critical failure. Schultz would go on to make prominent films such as Scavenger Hunt (1979), Carbon Copy (1981), and Disorderlies (1987). 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.

Film	Credit
Woman Thou Art Loosed2004 · Director	Director
L.A. Law: The Movie2002 · Director	Director
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change2000 · Director	Director
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure2000 · Director	Director
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence1999 · Director	Director
My Last Love1999 · Director	Director
Killers in the House1998 · Director	Director
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father1996 · Director	Director
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Hollywood Follies1994 · Director	Director
Day-O1992 · Director	Director
Livin' Large!1991 · Director	Director
Hammer, Slammer, & Slade1990 · Director	Director
Jury Duty: The Comedy1990 · Director	Director
Tarzan in Manhattan1989 · Director	Director
Rock 'N Roll Mom1988 · Director	Director
Disorderlies1987 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Spirit1987 · Director	Director
Timestalkers1987 · Director	Director
Krush Groove1985 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Last Dragon1985 · Director	Director
The Jerk, Too1984 · Director	Director
For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers1983 · Director	Director
Earth, Wind & Fire in Concert1982 · Director	Director
Benny's Place1982 · Director	Director
Carbon Copy1981 · Director	Director
Scavenger Hunt1979 · Director	Director
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band1978 · Director	Director
Which Way Is Up?1977 · Director	Director
Greased Lightning1977 · Director	Director
Car Wash1976 · Director	Director
Cooley High1975 · Director	Director
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men1975 · Director	Director
Bee Gees: Live in Melbourne 19741974 · Director	Director
Honeybaby, Honeybaby1974 · Director	Director
Together for Days1972 · Director	Director
To Be Young, Gifted and Black1972 · Director	Director
SShock TreatmentDirector	Director