Personal info
Known for
Producer
Gender
Male
Birthday
29 November
Location
Washington, United States
Edit pageDon Simpson
Biography
Donald Clarence Simpson (October 29, 1943 – January 19, 1996) was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. Simpson and his producing partner, Jerry Bruckheimer, produced hit films such as Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top Gun (1986), and The Rock (1996). At the time of his death in 1996, Simpson's films' total gross was $3 billion worldwide.
In the early 1970s, Simpson started working for Jack Wodell & Associates in San Francisco before moving to Los Angeles. He got a job marketing exploitation films for Warner Bros in 1972, handling distribution marketing for the movies Woodstock and A Clockwork Orange.
Soon after, he forged a partnership with fellow producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The two would go on to produce some of the most financially successful films of the 1980s: Flashdance (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top Gun (1986) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).
In 1985 and again in 1988, he and Bruckheimer were named Producers of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners. The success of Flashdance prompted Simpson and Bruckheimer to launch their own production company that was affiliated with Paramount Pictures.
