The Secret of My Success was the 20th feature directed by Ross. Up until that point Ross's films had received a total of 44 Oscar(tm) nominations. His previous 80's icon film had been Footloose starring Kevin Bacon.
Veteran director Ross began his career as a choreographer for the American Ballet Theater and the Broadway stage. When he was 23, his first ballet, "Caprichos," was performed by the Ballet Theater. Ross became the resident choreographer for the American Ballet Theater, and while on tour married the company's prima ballerina, Nora Kaye. For television, Ross produced and directed the Bell Telephone Hour and choreographed Fred Astaire's last TV special.
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| Herbert Ross on the set of Secret of My Success |
"I
made a decision early on to present a very stylized view of New York.
It's New York as perceived by Brantley (Fox) as the epitome of all that
is wonderful about technology, all that is beautiful about architecture,
all that is fascinating about the incredible diversity of races and people
who live in America. So I think the film says quite a lot, albeit in a
comic way, about how we think and how we feel about the world we live
in in the late 1980's
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Ross directed Barbra Streisand's show-stopping number as Miss Marmelstein in the Broadway musical "I Can Get it For You Wholesale." He was subsequently asked to direct her first screen test tor the film "Funny Girl," for which Ross aiso directed the musical numbers, and for which Streisand won the Oscar. Ross' first film as a director was "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," which earned Peter O'Toole an Oscar nomination in 1969. He went on to direct Barbra Streisand in her first non-musical comedy, "The owl and the Pussycat." Ross' other directing credits include "Play It Again, Sam" with Woody Allen and "The Last of Sheilall written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins.
In 1974, Ross directed "Funny Lady" starring Barbra Streisand and James Caan. It was nominated for four Academy Awards. Then came Ross' first Neil Simon project: "The Sunshine Boys," starring Walter Matthau and Gearge Burns, was honored with Academy Award nominations for both actors, and George Burns won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1976 Ross and his wife, the late Nora Kaye produced and directed "The Seven-Percent Solution" starring Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes, Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud, Robert Duvall as Watson, and Sir Laurence Olivier as Moriarty. Two Herbert Ross films released in 1977--"The Turning Point" with Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine and Mikhail Baryshnikov; and Neil Simon's "The Goodbye Girl" with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason--were honored with a total of 15 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture for each.
Ross was nominated as Best Director for "The Turning Point," produced by Nora Kaye; and Richard Dreyfuss won the Oscar as Best Actor for "The Goodbye Girl." Also in 1977, Ross directed Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" on Broadway. The production received four Tony Awards. Ross then returned to California to direct the film version of "California Suite," for which Maggie Smith won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. In 1979, Ross and Kaye brought "Nijinskyll to the screen, with Alan Bates portraying Sergei Diaghilev. Another teaming with Neil Simon followed, when Ross directed Broadway production of "I Ought To Be In Pictures," for which Dinah Manoff won the Tony Award Ross and Kaye went on to produce the musical drama "Pennies from Heaven," starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters. Ross then directed and produced with Neil Simon the film version of "I Ought To Be In Pictures" and "Max Dugan Returns."
Just before starting on "The Secret of My Success", Ross directed the phenomenally successful "Footloose" with Kevin Bacon and "Protocol" starring Goldie Hawn.
Nora Kaye - Associate Producer
The late NORA KAYE served as associate producer for "The Secret of My Success." Kaye was a legendary prima ballerina and also Mrs. Herbert Ross. In one capacity or another she had collaborated on all of Ross' film projects.
As a dancer, Kaye was a protege of the famed Ballets Russe choreographer, Fokine. She was the goddess of the first American ballet explosion, during which time she first danced the works of Anthony Tudor, "Pillar of Fire," and "Lilac Garden." Later works by Herbert Ross, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Sir Kenneth MacMillan and others contributed even more luster to her extraordinary reputation
When they met in 1958, Kaye was the prima ballerina of the American Ballet Theater, and Ross its resident choreographer. After their marriage, they left the American Ballet Theater to start their own company, the Ballet of Two Worlds, in Spoleto, Italy. Miss Kaye retired from the dance in 1960. Her last appearance was on Broadway in the Bette Davis revue, "Two's Company."
David Chasman - Executive producer
David is a film industry veteran. Prior to this movie he was most recently executive producer of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," a Ray Stark production for Universal Pictures.
Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. - Screenwriters
Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. met at Michigan State University, where Epps studied screenwriting with Cash. As an alumnus, Epps returned to visit Cash in 1976. over a cup of coffee the two men worked out 10 story ideas--seven of which have since been sold as screenplays. The first two of their scripts produced were "Top Gun," with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, and "Legal Eagles," with Debra Winger and Robert Redford. Epps presently lives in Los Angeles, where he has written for "Hawaii Five-oll and "Kojak." Cash lives in Michigan, where he has written several unpublished novels. Their long distance writing partnership is a success story of the computer age, when newly drafted pages can be exchanged on a daily basis.
Carlo Di Palma - Director of photography
Carlo Di Palma CARLO DI PALMA was born in Rome, where his father repaired cameras at Cinecitta Studios. By the age of 10, his older brother, Armanco, had been named general manager of the Studios, and di Palma became a regular visitor on the lot. At age 14, he was engaged as second assistant director on Roberto Rossellinils "Rome: Open City." He went on to work with Rossellini on "Paisall and "Obsession," then as second assistant to Vittorio de Sica on "The Bicycle Thief." di Palma shot a number of documentary features with Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini; and in 1978 directed the comedy "Theresa the Thief," starring Monica vitti. As director of photography, di Palmals feature film credits include Antonionils "Blow Up," "Red Desert," and "Identification of a Woman." He also shot "The Black Stallion Returns" and "Off Beat." di Palma has been based in New York for three years, where he shot Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Radio Days."
Paul Hirsch - Editor
Paul was born in New York, where he was a percussionist at The High School of Music and Art and an art history major at Columbia University. He learned his trade editing theatrical trailers. in 1977, Hirsch wan the Oscar for editing "Star Wars." His credits include eight Brian de Palma films: "Hi, Mam," "Sister," "Phantom of the Paradise," "Obsession," "Carrie," "The Fury," "Home Movies" and "Blowout." Hirsch also edited "King of the Gypsies," "The Empire Strikes Back," an episode of "Creepshow," "The Black Stallion Returns," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and the Disney television movie, "The Time Flyers." His two previous collaborations with Herbert Ross were on "Footloose" and "Protocol.".