David Zucker

With his younger brother Jerry and childhood pal Jim Abrahams, writer-producer-director David Zucker was responsible for a series of hilarious spoofs of a wide swath of popular movie genres. After forming a comedy troupe in college, the trio made their film debut with the cult classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977), which featured a string of vignettes. But it was their next spoof, "Airplane!" (1980), that marked their first major hit and established the three as an influential comedic force. After "Airplane," the Zuckers and Abraham made an attempt at television with "Police Squad!" (ABC, 1982) before returning to the big screen with "Top Secret!" (1984). With the trio going their separate ways, Zucker began making more mainstream movies, directing "Ruthless People" (1986) and the successful film franchise, "The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988), which revitalized the Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) character from "Police Squad" and spawned two hit sequels. From there, Zucker directed "BASEketball" (1998) and flew solo to direct the romantic comedy "My Boss' Daughter" (2003). On his own, Zucker breathed new life into the "Scary Movie" franchise, directing the third and fourth installments. Zucker remained, along with his two cohorts, a true pioneer of the spoof comedy.