Sad news indeed: Richard Zanuck, producer of Spielberg’s Jaws and The Sugarland Express, has died.

This is a fantastic article about Zanuck from the LA Times that originally ran in 2010.

Spielberg says in the article:

“As a producer at the top of his game, what makes Richard Zanuck unique is that he continues to be a mentor. He understands the private process that directors often suffer and has always known how to ask the right questions to get us unstuck. On ‘Jaws,’ a very atypical production, we were literally all in the same boat for nearly half a year and Richard, along with his partner, the late David Brown, always made available four shoulders to cry on.”