David Giler

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American filmmaker (1943–2020)

title: "David Giler" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1943-births", "2020-deaths", "filmmakers-from-new-york-(state)", "hugo-award–winning-writers", "deaths-from-cancer-in-thailand"] description: "American filmmaker (1943–2020)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Giler" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American filmmaker (1943–2020) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	David Giler
image	Cropped_Photo_of_David_Giler.jpg
birth_name	David Kevin Giler
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Bangkok, Thailand
occupation	Film/television producer, screenwriter
years_active	1962–2017
notable_works
spouse
::

Career

Television

Giler's father Bernie (1908–1967) was a writer. Giler began his career collaborating with his father for television programs such as The Gallant Men ("Signals for an End Run") (1962), Kraft Suspense Theatre ("Leviathan Five") (1964), Burke's Law ("Who Killed the Man on the White Horse?") (1965), and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Low Blue C Affair") (1967).

Giler's father died in 1967 and he began to be credited on his own on such shows as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Matterhorn Affair") (1967), and The Bold Ones: The Lawyers ("The Crowd Pleaser") (1969).

Features

Giler had begun writing feature films. In 1968 he was reportedly writing a script called Our Bag.

His first produced credit was the critically reviled Myra Breckinridge, an adaptation of Gore Vidal's controversial novel. The resulting movie was a disaster but Giler's script – heavily rewritten by director Michael Sarne – was much praised. He wrote a remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice and adapted The King Must Die but both were shelved. He did some uncredited rewriting on Skin Game (1971).

He was credited on The Parallax View (1974). In 1975 Giler turned to directing, his only film in that capacity, The Black Bird.

Giler wrote Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) and an adaptation of Fear of Flying that was never filmed.

Walter Hill

Giler formed the production company Brandywine Productions with Walter Hill and Gordon Carroll and in 1979, the trio co-produced and rewrote the script for the legendary sci-fi horror thriller, Alien. He and Hill became embroiled in a much-publicized behind-the-scenes fight with Alien original writer, Dan O'Bannon, over who was to receive screenplay credit. Giler and Hill claimed they completely rewrote the script and therefore wanted to relegate O'Bannon to a 'story by' credit only. O'Bannon claimed they did little more than change the names of the characters and dialogue. Ultimately, O'Bannon was the only one to receive credit for the screenplay in the final film, alongside a 'story by' co-credit with Ronald Shusett.

Giler and Hill later wrote Southern Comfort, and wrote the storyline, alongside James Cameron, that became the basis for Cameron's 1986 sequel, Aliens.

Giler on his own wrote the comedy The Money Pit (1986). He did an uncredited rewrite on Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and produced Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985). He wrote a remake of The Decline of the American Empire which was not filmed.

Hill and Giler executive produced Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Cryptkeeper for cable channel HBO. They returned to the Alien franchise, producing (and co-writing with Larry Ferguson) Alien 3 (1992). They were credited as producers on Alien Resurrection (1997) but had minimal involvement with it; the same applies for the other sequels.

Giler and Hill wrote and produced Undisputed.

Personal life

Giler was married to actress Nancy Kwan from 1970 until their divorce in 1972.

On December 19, 2020, he died of cancer at his home in Bangkok.

Filmography

Films

::data[format=table title=""]

Title	Producer	Director
1970	Mike Sarne	Also uncredited producer
1974	Alan J. Pakula
1975	Himself	Directorial Debut
1977	Ted Kotcheff
1979	Ridley Scott	Also uncredited script revisions
1981	Walter Hill
1985	Hugh Wilson
1986	Richard Benjamin
1986	James Cameron
1989	Joe Pytka
1992	David Fincher
1995	Ernest Dickerson	Based on Tales from the Crypt television series
1996	Gilbert Adler	Based on Tales from the Crypt television series
1997	Jean-Pierre Jeunet
2002	Walter Hill
2002	Avi Nesher	Based on Tales from the Crypt television series
2004	Paul W. S. Anderson
2007	The Brothers Strause
2012	Ridley Scott
2017	Ridley Scott
::

::data[format=table title="Uncredited written works"]

Title	Year	Notes	Skin Game	First Blood	Beverly Hills Cop II
1971	Directed by Paul Bogart
1982	Directed by Ted Kotcheff
1987	Directed by Tony Scott
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Television

::data[format=table title=""]

Title	Year	Writer	Producer	Notes	The Gallant Men	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Burke's Law	The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	The Bold Ones: The Lawyers	Tales from the Crypt	Two-Fisted Tales	Tales from the Cryptkeeper	Rebel Highway	W.E.I.R.D. World	Perversions of Science
1962			Episode: "Signals for an End Run"
1964			Episode: "Leviathan Five"
1965			Episode: "Who Killed the Man on the White Horse?"
1967			Episode: "The Low Blue C Affair"
1967			Episode: "The Matterhorn Affair"
1969			Episode: "The Crowd Pleaser"
1989–1996			93 episodes
1992			Television film
1993–1994			5 episodes
1994			4 episodes
1995			Television film
1997			10 episodes
::

References

1943 births in New York City, on Ancestry.com.
Martin, B.. (Oct 3, 1968). "4 star acquires 'cops, robbers'". Los Angeles Times.
(Oct 19, 1969). "Shell shock on the 'Myra' set--and it's not a war film". Los Angeles Times.
[https://www.proquest.com/docview/156445525 "Borgnine due in mystery"]. ''Los Angeles Times''
A. H. W.. (Jul 23, 1972). "The postman rings thrice". New York Times.
A. H. W.. (Dec 10, 1972). "Welcome back, vincente". New York Times.
Warga, W.. (Sep 15, 1974). "The spadework behind a 'falcon' remake". Los Angeles Times.
Murphy, M.. (Mar 22, 1976). "MOVIE CALL SHEET". Los Angeles Times.
"Interview with David Giler".
Charles Champlin. (Mar 19, 1987). "Remaking decline would be a perilous ploy". The Los Angeles Times.
"David Giler Dies: 'Alien' Franchise Producer, 'The Parallax View' Writer Was 77".
"David Giler, Writer-Producer on 'Alien' Franchise, Dies at 77". Variety.

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