Irvin Kershner gained notice early in his career as a filmmaker for directing quirky, independent drama films, while working as an influential lecturer at the University of Southern California.
20 Facts About Irvin Kershner
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Irvin Kershner's artistic and cultural background was a mixture of music and art.
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Irvin Kershner attended Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
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Irvin Kershner then moved to Los Angeles where he studied photography at the Art Center College of Design.
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Irvin Kershner later began his film career at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, teaching photography and taking cinema courses under Slavko Vorkapic, a montage artist and then-dean of the School.
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Irvin Kershner then accepted a job as still photographer on a State Department film project in Iran under the Point Four Program, which ultimately led to an assignment as a director and cinematographer of documentaries in Iran, Greece and Turkey with the United States Information Service.
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Irvin Kershner later developed and directed the television series The Rebel, as well as the pilots for Peyton Place, Cain's Hundred, Philip Marlowe, and others.
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Irvin Kershner directed The Empire Strikes Back, the sequel of the 1977 hit film Star Wars.
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Irvin Kershner, who was an appealing directorial candidate to Lucas because of his concern for character development, was at first reluctant to direct the film.
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Irvin Kershner's agent was told about the meeting and encouraged him to take the job.
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Irvin Kershner turned down a chance to direct Return of the Jedi, having spent almost three years of work on The Empire Strikes Back.
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Irvin Kershner stated, in retrospect, that he would have accepted an offer to direct one of the films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy had they been produced sooner, as Lucas originally estimated the first of them to be ready for release in 1988 rather than in 1999.
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Irvin Kershner had projects that he was going to be involved with in the late 70s and early 80s.
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Irvin Kershner signed on to direct an adaptation of I, Robot from a script by Harlan Ellison, which was never filmed.
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Irvin Kershner directed the pilot of the television series seaQuest DSV, and he made his debut as an actor in the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, in which he played Zebedee, the father of the apostles James and John.
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Irvin Kershner played a film director in Steven Seagal's On Deadly Ground.
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Irvin Kershner was a faculty member at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.
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In fall 2002, spring 2003, fall 2004, and spring 2004, Irvin Kershner served as a Visiting Professor and Research Associate at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he provided cinematography training.
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Irvin Kershner had been working on photographic projects before his death.
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Irvin Kershner was survived by two sons, David and Dana.