Biographie

While filming the scene in Stand by Me (1986) in which Gordie and Vern are being chased by a train, he couldn't get Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell to look frightened enough, so after a take, he proceeded to yell at them until they began to cry. He then filmed the scene over again.

Was best friends in high school with Richard Dreyfuss, whom he later directed in Stand by Me (1986).

Of all the films he has directed, he considers Stand by Me (1986) as his masterpiece and his favorite film.

Named his production company "Castle Rock" after a fictional town created by Stephen King (the two have worked as a team on several movies together).

Growing up, he lived right across from future wife Penny Marshall's home in the Bronx.

[on his All in the family (1971) co-star Carroll O'Connor] He couldn't have been more different from Archie Bunker. He cared about the little guy. He shone a light on bigotry and ignorance and hope. Arguably, he created the single most indelible character in the history of American television.

[on why his career skidded in the late 1990s when he split his time between movies and politics] People kept asking me, "How do you balance it?," and the point is, you don't. I know now, about me: I can't split my attention in that way. It doesn't work. I mean, it shows, to be honest with you. You can't do both.

[on producing Sans plus attendre (2007)] This is kind of a little minefield here. You want to get the tone right for it. This is a subject that you have to deal with comically. It's still got to be funny. You want sentiment, not sentimentality. These are all the sidewalls you want to not fracture the picture on. Not that I don't like an easy job.

I like to think of myself as a very young old person. But you start thinking, "How many years am I going to have to be productive?" Especially in our business, youth is so stressed. You start thinking, "How many more movies am I going to get to make?" Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll make five more.

Stand by Me (1986) was a unique directing experience because ideas came from everywhere. Doing a period piece about the world of childhood is an adventure, each day on-set; people from the crew threw their own childhood memories into the production.