John Landis

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John Landis

The Blues Brothers, Michael Jackson's Thriller video, Animal House, American Werewolf in London

Note: Mark Twain was fond of using this quote, but he credited it to Edgar Wilson Nye, a fellow humorist.

John Landis is an award-winning director, screenwriter, actor, and producer best known for his hit comedies such as 1978’s Animal House, 1980's The Blues Brothers, 1983's Trading Places and 1988's Coming to America — but he's also directed dark films such as the 1981 horror classic An American Werewolf in London, which featured Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup design.

John and Rick reunited two years later for Michael Jackson's landmark 1983 music video Thriller which forever changed MTV and the concept of music videos, garnering multiple accolades including the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Overall Video, Viewer's Choice, and the Video Vanguard Award - The Greatest Video in the History of the World. In 1991 Thriller was inducted into the MVPA's Hall of Fame.

In 1991, John once again collaborated with Michael Jackson on the Black or White video which premiered simultaneously in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million.

The following year, he directed the vampire movie Innocent Blood. His love of the horror genre is explored in his 320-page book Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares (September 19, 2011).

John is also a sought-after commercial director and has lectured at many film schools and universities including Yale, Harvard, NYU, and UCLA. He has acted as a teacher and advisor to aspiring filmmakers at the Sundance Institute in Utah.

He is married to Deborah Nadoolman, an Oscar-nominated costume designer, and President of the Costume Designers Guild, with whom he has two children.

John Landis at the Internet Movie Database