What is Albert S. Ruddy net worth?
Albert S. Ruddy is a film and television producer and writer who has a net worth of $50 million. Albert S. Ruddy is best known for producing Best Picture Oscar winners “The Godfather” and “Million Dollar Baby.” He also produced films such as ‘The Longest Yard’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The Cannonball Run’ and ‘Cry Macho’. For television, Ruddy co-created the “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Walker, Texas Ranger” series.
Youth and education
Albert S. Ruddy was born on March 28, 1930 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to Jewish parents. He was raised by his mother Ruth in both New York, New York and Miami Beach, Florida. In the old town, Ruddy went to Brooklyn Technical High School as a teenager. He then won a scholarship to the City College of New York, where he studied chemical engineering. Ruddy then moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California School of Architecture.
Early career
After graduating from USC, Ruddy designed homes on the East Coast. Back out West, he had a brief stint at Warner Bros. Pictures. After meeting studio head Jack L. Warner, Ruddy became an intern programmer with the nonprofit global policy think tank RAND Corporation. He then returned to the entertainment world as a television writer at Universal Studios.
Film career
In 1965, Ruddy produced his first feature film, the romantic drama “Wild Seed”; he shared a production credit with Marlon Brando Sr., who hired him for the project. His next producing credit came in 1970 on the comedy-drama “Little Fauss and Big Halsy,” starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard as a pair of motorcycle racers. The following year, Ruddy produced “Making It”, with Kristoffer Tabori and Marlyn Mason.
One of the greatest triumphs of his career came in 1972, when he produced Francis Ford Coppola’s epic crime film “The Godfather,” based on Mario Puzo’s novel. A huge critical and commercial success, the film went on to earn Ruddy the Best Picture Oscar.
Two years later, he produced the prison sports comedy “The Longest Yard”, which was born from his own story idea. Ruddy went on to produce the blaxploitation adult animated film “Coonskin”, directed by Ralph Bakshi. The last film he produced in the 70s was the comedy “Matilda”, based on the eponymous novel by Paul Gallico.
Ruddy had his next box office success in 1981 as producer of Burt Reynolds’ action comedy “The Cannonball Run.” Subsequently, he produced and co-wrote a less successful action film, “MegaForce”. In 1984, Ruddy produced the heist movie “Lassiter” and the action comedy sequel “Cannonball Run II.” He followed them with the adventure film “Farewell to the King”; the neo-noir “Impulse”; the sports comedy “Ladybugs”; Western “bad girls”; another sports comedy, “The Scout”; and the crime thriller “Heaven’s Prisoners”.
In 2004, Ruddy produced Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby,” for which he won his second Best Picture Oscar. He then reunited with Eastwood in 2021 to produce “Cry Macho.” Ruddy’s other producing credits include the 2005 remake of “The Longest Yard” and the direct-to-video sports comedy “Cloud 9,” which he also co-wrote.
For the small screen, Ruddy began as a writer on the CBS anthology series “The Lloyd Bridges Show” in 1963. A few years later, he co-created and began writing for the hit CBS sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes.” , which lasted six years. seasons until 1971. Following this, Ruddy produced the TV movie “Thunderguys”. In 1976, he produced another TV movie, “The Macahans”, which would soon be adapted into the series “How the West Was Won”.
After a short hiatus from television, Ruddy returned to produce the 1981 TV movie “Stockers.” He then took a longer break before returning to the small screen in 1993 to co-create the action cop series “Walker , Texas Ranger”, with Chuck Norris. The show’s other creators were Paul Haggis, Leslie Greif, and Christopher Canaan. A hugely successful series, “Walker, Texas Ranger” ran for eight seasons until 2001 and spawned a TV movie in 2005.
The offer
In 2022, Ruddy served as executive producer on the Paramount+ miniseries “The Offer,” a fictionalized account of the development and production of Coppola’s “The Godfather.” As part of the main cast, actor Miles Teller portrays Ruddy.
Private life
Ruddy’s first marriage was to Françoise Wizenberg, whom he eventually divorced. Wizenberg later changed her name to Ma Prem Hasya after becoming a follower of Indian religious leader Rajneesh. Ruddy married his second wife, Wanda McDaniel, in 1981. The couple have a son named John and a daughter named Alexandra.