Robert Nixon (filmmaker)

Robert Nixon
Born	Robert Henry Nixon 1954 (age 62–63)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Film director, writer, conservationist
Years active	1978–present
Board member of	Earth Conservation Corps The Pearl Foundation Wings Over America
Spouse(s)	Sarah Thorsby Guinan
Awards	Academy Award nominee National Geographic Hero of the Planet President's Service Award (Clinton Administration)

Robert Henry Nixon is an American film director, writer and conservationist. His films, often focused on the battles of tribal peoples and field biologists, include Amazon Diary, America The Beautiful, The End of the Game, Fossey's War, Gorillas in the Mist, Endangered Species, The Last Rivermen, American Heroes, Mission Blue, Great White Highway, The Lord God Bird, Peter Beard's Africa: Last Word From Paradise, The Flight Of Double Eagle II, So Long Lady and The Falconer.

Nixon was born in 1954. His father, Robert, was an executive with Chrysler; his mother, Agnes Nixon, the creator of One Life to Live and All My Children, is regarded as a pioneer in bringing social consciousness to daytime television. Raised in a Philadelphia suburb, Nixon aspired to be a field biologist but academic challenges at Episcopal Academy led him to England, where he was an apprentice falconer to Master Falconer Phillip Glasier. He subsequently searched the rainforest of Guyana to study and photograph the little-known ornate hawk eagle and the harpy eagle. Returning to America, Nixon established a Raptor education program at The Wildlife Preserve under the guidance of master falconer Jim Fowler, the co-host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

Often hired to "fly" raptors for feature films and television commercials, Nixon began his career in film as a professional falconer in the mid-70s. In 1976, he began producing adventure and environmental documentaries for ABC's American Sportsman series. In 1979, Nixon led a film crew to Rwanda to produce a documentary about famed zoologist Dian Fossey. Nixon pressed Fossey to allow him to make a dramatic film about her life; she agreed to grant him the rights to her story, for free, provided that he spend a year dedicated to hands-on conservation. Film studios became interested in Fossey's life after she was murdered in 1985, and her story was told in the feature film, Gorillas in the Mist, which Nixon co-produced. The film, which starred Sigourney Weaver, was a critical and commercial success. Nixon next wrote, produced and directed the dramatic film Amazon Diary, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1990. Shot in the Amazon, the film examined the story of the Kayapo Indians, their relationship with the harpy eagle and their battle to protect the rain forest.

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