The producer of the memorable and highly comedic Police Academy franchise, Paul Maslansky passed at the age of 91 on Dec 2, 2024. He was born in Harlem, New York, in 1933. In the 1950s, he served in the U.S. Army for two years abroad and came back stateside to attend NYU Law School. He dropped out of law school and moved to Paris, France. He found his way into the film industry by producing the French horror film Castle of the Living Dead. Maslansky worked his way into the U.S. film industry on the drama sports film Hard Times with popular actor Charles Bronson, James Coburn and Bronson’s then-wife Jill Ireland. The movie was directed by the legendary Walter Hill. He bounced around the industry before being inspired by a parade scene in The Right Stuff to develop a movie about police cadets.
Police Academy became the biggest hit of Maslansky’s career and spawned a franchise that lives on today. A new Police Academy film is set to be made here soon with many of the surviving cast to return for roles. The first film grossed over $150M on a budget of approximately $4M, quite a return for the creative Army veteran. The next two sequels grossed over $100M at the box office and were big hits on home video and TV rebroadcasts. The majority of the sequels were successful in returning the money invested in the films, but the first four films were the biggest hits. The latter three were either average or misfires, which is unfortunate for such a funny series of films. The film spawned six sequels, a cartoon TV show and a live-action TV show. A video game was made in the 1980s but was never released. It helped launch the careers of many of its stars including Steve Guttenberg, who recently helped out in dealing with the fires in LA, Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall, Michael Winslow and many more.
Maslansky produced many more engaging films such as Disney’s Return to Oz, which does not get the credit it is due and is a sequel to Wizard of Oz. He produced Fluke with Matthew Modine and Cop & 1/2 with Burt Reynolds. He collaborated with Oscar winner Alan Ladd Jr. on films such as The Russia House, which starred Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeifer, Death Line, The Right Stuff and Damnation Alley. Maslansky further worked on The Running Man, Jason and the Argonauts and The Long Ships. The Lenfest Center for the Art’s ‘Maslansky Rehearsal Hall’ in Lexington is named in his honor. He was married to Sally Emr and is survived by his children Sacha, Sabina and Samuel and he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the series King.
His brother, Michael, who preceded him in death, was a publicist for Hollywood legends such as Katharine Hepburn, Goldie Hawn, and Sly Stallone.