| 5/25/1951 - Present
Screenwriter/Director/Comic Book Writer probably most responsible for shaping me in to the man I am today by way of my earliest film memory, "Back To The Future", which he wrote.
Bob Gale was born and raised in University City, Missouri. In his youth he enjoyed reading comic books and watching Disney animated films. He taught himself to draw and found that he enjoyed creative writing, and while in high school wrote, drew and published three issues of his own comic book. He attended Tulane University for engineering and quickly decided it wasn't for him. His sophomore year he transfered to the University of Southern California to study film.
At USC he met and became friends with Robert Zemeckis, an aspiring Film Director at the time. In 1973, they wrote a low budget horror movie together in an attempt to break in to show business, without success. Ironically, their script would be produced in 1996 as "Tales From The Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood".
Upon graduating, Gale and Zemeckis continued to try and find work together as well as apart, writing and directing respectively for TV Shows throughout the rest of the 1970's. Zemeckis and Gale took another shot at writing, this time a script entitled "1941", which they showed to a college friend of theirs named John Milius, who had successfully begun directing films. Milius in turn showed their script to his friend Steven Spielberg, who was so impressed with it, decided it would be his next film after "Close Encounters Of the Third Kind".
Together Gale and Zemeckis wrote two more scripts, "Used Cars" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", executive produced by Spielberg and with Zemeckis getting his shot at directing. In 1980, Gale and Zemeckis began writing "Back to the Future".
After four years of rewrites and failed pitches to studios, the two were able to get Back to the Future going at Universal. Spielberg produced once again, and upon release the film became one of the top ten highest grossing films of all time, and earned both Gale and Zemeckis Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Zemeckis went on to direct "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" as Gale embarked on a number of unproduced screenplays.
In 1989, Gale wrote the sequels to Back to the Future to be shot back to back. After their release, he wrote produced and directed for the animated series based on the films.
He also wrote (with Zemeckis) the script for the film "Trespass", directed by Walter Hill, and in 1995 wrote and directed the world's first interactive movie, "Mr. Payback" to very minimal success.
Bob Gale continues to write, mostly for comic books including Batman and Daredevil. He has written and directed a film entitled "Interstate 60", featuring an eclectic ensemble cast that is expected to be released theatrically later in the year.
sources:
www.imdb.com
www.bttf.com | 
