Ned Tanen

Ned Stone Tanen (c. September 20, 1931 – January 5, 2009) was an American film studio executive behind films that included American Graffiti and Animal House.

Tanen was born in Los Angeles and served in the United States Air Force after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his military service, he got a job in 1954 in the MCA mailroom. He helped form the Uni Records label at MCA in 1967. Artists recording on the Uni label included Neil Diamond, Elton John, Olivia Newton-John and the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Uni Records later merged with Decca Records to become MCA Records.

Tanen served as production supervisor on the 1971 Miloš Forman film Taking Off, which became his springboard into film production at Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of MCA. He was named president of Universal's film division in 1976. His projects at Universal included a wide-ranging variety of box office and critical success, including the 1973 film American Graffiti, Jaws (1975), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), The Deer Hunter (1978), Melvin and Howard (1980) and Missing (1982). His 1980 films set an industry box office receipts record of $290 million, with releases including Coal Miner's Daughter, The Blues Brothers and Smokey and the Bandit II. He resigned from Universal in December 1982.

...
Wikipedia