Don Carmody

Don Carmody was an early force in Canadian cinema, producing some of the first films from director David Cronenberg. In 1975, Carmody co-produced the director's disturbing "They Came from Within" (released in the United States as "Shivers"), which was controversial in Canada for its use of government subsidies (all of which were paid back when the film became a domestic hit). As a producer, Carmody's tastes skew more toward crowd-pleasing genre pictures. A case in point is the 1982 sex comedy "Porky's," which became one of Canada's biggest moneymakers, bringing in over $100 million at the United States box office. Carmody and "Porky's" director Bob Clark became frequent collaborators, working together again on its sequel "Porky's II: The Next Day." Into the 1990s, Carmody became head of production at Franchise Pictures, resulting in "The Boondock Saints" and "The Pledge." In an age of runaway Hollywood productions chasing after Canadian tax breaks, Carmody made a business of managing United States movies filming in Canada, including 2002's "Chicago," which filmed in Toronto, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2010, Carmody was inducted into Playback's Canadian Motion Picture Hall of Fame.