Gerald Molen
Gerald Robert "Jerry" Molen is an American film producer who has worked closely with Stephen Spielberg. Molen was born on January 6, 1935, in Great Falls, Montana, to Edith Lorraine Meyer and Gerald Richard Molen. The family moved to North Hollywood, California, where Molen's mother ran a diner, "The Blue Onion", which was located across from one of the major studios. Molen got his start in the movie business by changing tires on studio trucks. Molen won an Academy Award for co-producing the movie Schindler's List.
Molen has appeared in cameos in several of the films he produced, including Rain Man, Days of Thunder, and Jurassic Park. The name 'Molen' can be seen painted on the front of a large black cauldron in the movie Hook as the camera pans across the pirate docks in Neverland. [1]
Molen worked as a producer on the following films:
- The Color Purple (1985) (unit production manager)
- Batteries not Included (1987) (associate producer)
- Rain Man (1988) (co-producer)
- Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
- Days of Thunder (1990) (executive producer)
- Hook (1991) (producer)
- Schindler's List (1993) (producer)
- A Far Off Place (1993)
- Jurassic Park (1993) (producer)
- Little Giants (1994)
- The Little Rascals (1994)
- The Flintstones (1994) (executive producer)
- Casper (1995) (executive producer)
- The Trigger Effect (1996) (executive producer)
- Twister (1996) (executive producer)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) (producer)
- View from the Swing (2000)
- The Other Side of Heaven (2001) (producer)
- Minority Report (2002) (producer)
- The Legend of Johnny Lingo (2003) (producer)
- Truth & Treason (2011) (executive producer)
Molen was production manager on many other films. The Other Side of Heaven is the story of Latter-day Saint missionary John H. Groberg. The Legend of Johnny Lingo was the sequel to the famous Johnny Lingo, a Latter-day Saint classic. Truth and Treason is the story of three Latter-day Saint teenagers in Nazi Germany who stood up to Hitler. (See Karl-Heinz Schnibbe and Helmuth Hubener.)
Molen worked on The Abolistionists, a documentary about the work of Timothy Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
Molen married Patricia Jane Lindke, July 29, 1954. Their children are Lorion Marie, and Steven Robert. [2]
He is now semi-retired and divides his time between Montana and Las Vegas, Nevada.
