Eric Pleskow

1924 – 2019

Eric Pleskow (born 1924) is an Austrian film producer and the former president of the movie studios United Artists and Orion Pictures. Due to his brief education in film editing, which he finished before joining the army, he became film officer (US War Department) in 1945 and was assigned to rebuild the Bavaria Film Studios. He also started to produce movies himself. In 1973 he became president of United Artists. Under his presidency United Artists won the Academy Award (Oscar) for the best picture three years in a row (1975: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, 1976: “Rocky”, 1977: “Annie Hall”). In 1978, Pleskow left United Artists and built up Orion Pictures, which he directed until 1992. Their greatest successes under his management were “Amadeus”, “Dances with Wolves” and “The Silence of the Lambs”. Since 1998, Pleskow has been president of the Film Festival Viennale in Vienna. In February 2007, he was awarded honorary citizenship of Vienna, following Billy Wilder and Teddy Kollek