OBST, Lynda (Rosen) 1950-

PERSONAL: Born April 14, 1950, in New York, NY; daughter of Robert A. and Claire (Shenker) Rosen; married David Obst (divorced); children: Oliver. Education: Attended Pomona College.

ADDRESSES: Office—Lynda Obst Productions, 5555 Melrose Ave., Bldg. 210, Hollywood, CA 90038. Agent—William Morris Agency, 151 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER: Hollywood producer and executive producer. Producer of films, including Adventures in Babysitting, Buena Vista, 1987; Heartbreak Hotel, Buena Vista, 1988; The Fisher King, TriStar, 1991; This Is My Life, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1991; (uncredited) Apollo 13, Universal, 1995; One Fine Day, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1996; Hope Floats, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1998; The Siege, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1998; The Wishbones, Fox 2000 Pictures, 1999; Rite of Passage, Paramount, 1999; Someone like You… (also known as Animal Attraction), Twentieth Century-Fox, 2001; Abandon, Paramount, 2002; How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Paramount, 2003; The Hot Zone, 2004; and Can You Keep a Secret?, 2005. Associate producer of films, including Flash-dance, Paramount, 1983. Executive producer of films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Columbia TriStar, 1993; Bad Girls, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1994; and Contact, Warner Bros., 1997. Executive producer of television programs, including The 60s (miniseries), National Broadcasting Company, 1999; (uncredited) Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (documentary), American Movie Classics (AMC), 2002. Appeared in television specials, including (as interviewee) Dawn Steel: The E! True Hollywood Story, E! Entertainment Television, 1998; (as interviewee) What Is a Producer?, E! Entertainment Television, 2001; and (as host) Hello, He Lied (documentary), AMC, 2002. Appeared as herself in television mini-series Naked Hollywood, 1991.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Rolling Stone History of the Sixties, Straight Arrow Books (San Francisco, CA), 1974–76.

(With Carol Wolper) Dirty Dreams (novel), New American Library (New York, NY), 1990.

Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (also see below), Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996.

Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (documentary television special; adapted from Obst's book of the same title), American Movie Classics, 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Lynda Obst, the Hollywood producer behind such films as One Fine Day, Sleepless in Seattle, and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, is "one of filmdom's best producers, famous for her good taste, sharp mind, and fearless temperament," Jason Cohen wrote in Texas Monthly. As one of the first women to become a major player in the formerly male-dominated movie-making business, and as one who has made a career out of making moderately budgeted, moderately successful "chick flicks" in an age when blockbusters are the preference of most major studios, Obst had to be fearless. However, she has also maintained a sense of humor and optimism about filmmaking, which shows through in her memoir Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches. Unlike many Hollywood exposés, Obst avoids dealing in gossip and putting down her enemies. Instead, she "writes like a full-fledged sociologist," as a reviewer explained in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: it's "the brainiest insider's view of moviemaking in recent memory." Among Obst's anthropological observations and advice, there is also humor. "Obst's rundown of the difference between an arty 'fuzzy girl' as opposed to an Armani-wearing 'crisp girl' is worth the price of admission," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Entertainment Weekly, September 13, 1996, Lisa Schwarzbaum, review of Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches, p. 125.

Hollywood Reporter, January 8, 2002, Barry Garron, review of Hello, He Lied (television program), p. 28.

Interview, February, 1999, Graham Fuller, interview with Obst, pp. 56-57.

Library Journal, October 1, 1996, Jane E. Sloan, review of Hello, He Lied, p. 80.

Los Angeles Times, September 19, 1996, Elaine Dutka, interview with Obst, p. 6; February 5, 1999, Susan King, interview with Obst, p. 6.

Multichannel News, December 3, 2001, Linda Haugsted, review of Hello, He Lied (television program), p. 46.

New York Post, January 8, 2002, Linda Stasi, review of Hello, He Lied (television program).

New York Times, October 13, 1996, David McClintick, review of Hello, He Lied, p. 34; January 7, 2002, Julie Salamon, review of Hello, He Lied (television program), p. E8.

People, September 30, 1996, Joanne Kaufman, review of Hello, He Lied, pp. 33-34.

Premiere, January, 2002, Alyssa Giacobbe, review of Hello, He Lied (television program), p. 29.

Publishers Weekly, August 5, 1996, review of Hello, He Lied, pp. 425-426.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), December 24, 1996, Bob Ivry, interview with Obst, p. Y4.

San Francisco Chronicle, January 4, 1997, Ruthe Stein, "Producer Rains on Hollywood's Parade: Lynda Obst Explains Why Everyone Lies," p. E1.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 4, 1996, review of Hello, He Lied, p. C2.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), September 3, 1996, review of Hello, He Lied, p. 21.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), October 20, 1997, Neal Justin, review of Hello, He Lied, p. 1E.

Texas Monthly, July, 1997, Jason Cohen, interview with Obst, pp. 84-92.

Variety, July 15, 2002, Steve Chagollan, interview with Obst, p. S10.

online

Ann Devlin Online, http://www.annonline.com/ (September 17, 1997), "Lynda Obst."

Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/ (May 21, 2004), "Lynda Obst."

Lynda Obst Productions Web site, http://www.lyndaobst.com/ (May 21, 2004).*