Dean Riesner

Dean Riesner

Personal Info

  • Name:

    Dean Riesner

  • Birthday:

    1918-11-03

  • Place of Birth: New Rochelle, New York, USA
  • Gender:

    Male

  • Know For:

    Writing

  • Popularity: 0.3791
  • Also Known As

    Dinky Dean

    Dink Dean

    Dean Franklin

    Charles Reisner Jr.

    Dean Reisner

    Dinky Reisner

    Dean E. Riesner

Dean Riesner

Biography

Dean Riesner (November 3, 1918, New Rochelle, New York – August 18, 2002, Encino, California) was an American film and television writer.

Riesner's father, Charles Reisner, was a German American silent film director, and Dean began acting in films at the age of five as "Dinky Dean". His most notable role was in Charlie Chaplin's 1923 film The Pilgrim. His career at this young age ended because his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood. As an adult, his first job in films was as a co-writer of the 1939 Ronald Reagan movie Code of the Secret Service.

Riesner won an Oscar for directing Bill and Coo (1948), a feature film with a cast of real birds, costumed as humans, acting on the world's smallest film set.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Riesner worked primarily in television, including writing for Rawhide and the "Tourist Attraction" episode of The Outer Limits, although he occasionally contributed to feature films like The Helen Morgan Story. In 1968 he landed a job working on the Clint Eastwood action film Coogan's Bluff, and this in turn would lead to him writing several other Eastwood features throughout the 1970s. Riesner helped pen the screenplays for two Eastwood films in 1971, Play Misty for Me and the original Dirty Harry. In 1973 he provided an uncredited rewrite for High Plains Drifter, and in 1976 he was one of the writers to draft The Enforcer, the third Dirty Harry thriller. That same year he provided the teleplay for NBC's highly rated miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, starring Nick Nolte. In 1979 he wrote an early draft screenplay for The Godfather Part III, but his script was discarded when Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo finally agreed to collaborate on a third entry in the series.

Riesner continued to write into the 1980s, though most of his work from that period went uncredited. Those films include Das Boot, The Sting II, and Starman.

Riesner died in 2002 of natural causes. He had been married to actress Maila Nurmi, better known as the horror hostess Vampira.

Top Movie Cast

Hollywood
Hollywoodtrue- Dean Riesner

1923-08-19

7.0
The Pilgrim
The Pilgrimtrue- Little Boy

1923-02-19

6.8
The Traveling Saleswoman
The Traveling Saleswomantrue- Tom

1950-02-15

4.5
The Chaplin Revue
The Chaplin Revuetrue- Various (archive footage)

1959-09-01

7.3
Peck's Bad Boy
Peck's Bad Boytrue

1921-04-21

3.5
It's in the Air
It's in the Airtrue- Brave (uncredited)

1935-10-10

5.0
Gunfire
Gunfiretrue- Outlaw Mack

1950-08-12

5.0
The Cobra Strikes
The Cobra Strikestrue- Detective Brody

1948-04-24

5.0
Everybody Dance
Everybody Dancetrue- Tommy Spurgeon

1936-09-06

6.0
Play It Again: A Look Back at 'Play Misty for Me'
Play It Again: A Look Back at 'Play Misty for Me'true- Self

2001-09-18

6.7
Assigned to Danger
Assigned to Dangertrue- Dr. Michael Kelly (uncredited)

1948-05-19

5.0
Grief
Grieftrue

1921-05-01

0.0

Top Movie Crew

Das Boot
Das Boottrue

Writing

1981-09-17

8.1
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harrytrue

Writing

1971-12-23

7.4
The Enforcer
The Enforcertrue

Writing

1976-12-16

6.7
Coogan's Bluff
Coogan's Blufftrue

Writing

1968-10-02

6.4
Charley Varrick
Charley Varricktrue

Writing

1973-09-19

7.4
The Sting II
The Sting IItrue

Writing

1983-02-18

4.7
Bill and Coo
Bill and Cootrue

Directing

1948-03-28

6.2
Bill and Coo
Bill and Cootrue

Writing

1948-03-28

6.2
The Man from Galveston
The Man from Galvestontrue

Writing

1963-12-18

5.2
Stranger on the Run
Stranger on the Runtrue

Writing

1967-10-31

5.4
Lost Flight
Lost Flighttrue

Writing

1970-08-13

3.7
Fatal Beauty
Fatal Beautytrue

Writing

1987-10-30

5.5
The Helen Morgan Story
The Helen Morgan Storytrue

Writing

1957-10-02

5.2
The Fighting 69th
The Fighting 69thtrue

Writing

1940-01-27

5.4
The Intruders
The Intruderstrue

Writing

1970-11-10

5.7
The Keegans
The Keeganstrue

Writing

1976-05-03

0.0
Operation Haylift
Operation Haylifttrue

Writing

1950-05-05

5.0
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impacttrue

Writing

1983-12-08

6.5
Paris Holiday
Paris Holidaytrue

Writing

1958-04-05

5.2
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Dietrue

Writing

1942-06-13

5.4
Skipalong Rosenbloom
Skipalong Rosenbloomtrue

Writing

1951-04-30

0.0
I Shot Billy the Kid
I Shot Billy the Kidtrue

Crew

1950-07-27

4.0
Play Misty for Me
Play Misty for Metrue

Writing

1971-10-01

6.6
A Fugitive from Justice
A Fugitive from Justicetrue

Crew

1940-06-15

3.5

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