Martin Elfand

Martin Elfand was born and raised in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. Elfand started in the entertainment industry as an agent with CMA, eventually representing talent such as Candace Bergin and Al Pacino. Elfand moved into motion picture production by working with producer Martin Bregman, developing the project "Serpico" starring Al Pacino, and eventually producing low-budget money-maker "Kansas City Bomber" starring Raquel Welch. Elfand soon championed a new project based on a true-life bank robbery in Brooklyn. Elfand and Bergman produced "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino, leading to multiple Academy-Award nominations, including one for Elfand for Best Picture. Elfand and Dog Day Afternoon lost the Oscar to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Michael Douglas, but Elfand's career was soaring. He was approached to work with Warner Bros as Head of Motion Picture Production. He stayed in that position for one year, then opted to return to motion picture production. After producing "It's My Turn" with Michael Douglas and Jill Clayburgh, Elfand hit pay dirt with his film for Paramount Pictures, "An Officer and A Gentleman" starring Richard Gere, newcomer Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett, Jr., directed by Taylor Hackford. The film's production was rocky and intense, but the film was a huge hit, earning well over $125 million dollars in domestic box office in 1982, nominated for multiple Academy Awards, and winning Best Song and Best Supporting Actor (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Paramount Pictures asked Elfand to produce what it considered to be the next big thing, the return of the Biblical genre. The film "King David" was directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Richard Gere, Edward Woodward, and Alice Krieg as Bathsheba. The film was a critical failure, and a box office failure. Elfand moved back to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, developing and producing "Clara's Heart" directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris. Elfand re-teamed with Bruce Beresford again on the screwball comedy "Her Alibi" starring Tom Selleck and produced "Talent For The Game" directed by Robert Young and starring Edward James Olmos.