Ilya Salkind

Ilya Juan Salkind Domínguez (; born July 27, 1947), usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a Mexican film and television producer, known for his contributions to three of the four live-action Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind.

Early life and career Ilya Juan Salkind Dominguez was born July 27, 1947, in Mexico City, Mexico, the son of Berta Domínguez, a Mexican novelist, and French producer Alexander Salkind. At the age of one, Salkind was photographed sitting on the lap of Zsa Zsa Gabor. His grandfather, Mikhail Salkind, was a pioneer of silent films and produced Joyless Street (1925), featuring then-relatively-unknown Greta Garbo in her first major role. Afterwards, Mikhail, along with Ilya's own father, Alexander, joined their forces to supervise many successful films, from Abel Gance's Austerlitz (1960) to Orson Welles' The Trial (1962). Beginning in 1969, Ilya Salkind became the third generation of his film-making family. He and Alexander made numerous films, starting with the international box office hits The Three Musketeers (1973) and its 1974 follow-up, The Four Musketeers films, the first instance of which a major motion picture and its immediate sequel were shot simultaneously. Salkind was of Russian-Jewish descent.

Superman film series

Ilya and Alexander, along with producing partner Pierre Spengler, purchased the film rights to the Superman property in August 1974. It was agreed that the Salkinds would produce and supervise filming on Superman and Superman II simultaneously, as had been the case with The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers. Securing the film rights from DC Comics (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) was an unbearable experience for the producers, as Spengler was forced to spend two weeks in meetings with DC executives for the specific purpose of establishing an "Integrity of the character" clause. However, the producers did make sure DC approved of every aspect of the film (including dialogue). At this point in time Muhammad Ali, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, James Caan, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen were being considered for the leading role of Superman. and Rex Harrison would both turn it down.

The Salkinds returned to the Superman mythology again in 1988, this time as a TV series, with Superboy, starring John Haymes Newton in the title role during its first year, Gerard Christopher as the Boy of Steel for the remainder of the show's existence, and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, lasted four seasons, running for 100 episodes. Following the team's last film, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), Ilya and his then-wife, Jane Chaplin (daughter of Charlie Chaplin) settled in Orlando, Florida, where much of the Superboy series had been filmed. There, Ilya and Jane took a sabbatical and devoted their time to raising their two sons. In 1999, the couple amicably separated.

Ilya Salkind Company Returning to Los Angeles in 2003, the producer launched the Ilya Salkind Company in the late summer of that year. The company's first project, Young Alexander the Great, was shot on location in Greece and Egypt, and was released direct-to-DVD in 2010 under the title Born to be Great. The company had several major motion pictures slated for the coming years.

Superman retrospectives On the DVD release of Superboy: The Complete First Season in 2006, Salkind appeared in the documentary featurette "Superboy: Getting Off the Ground" and provided audio commentary with series star John Haymes Newton on two episodes. He also appeared in the 2006 television documentary Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman talking about his time producing the Superman films. He also provided audio commentary along with producer Pierre Spengler for the 2006 DVD releases of Superman: The Movie (Four-Disc Collector's Edition), Superman II (Two-Disc Special Edition), and Superman III (Deluxe Edition).

Reported missing Salkind, who was born in Mexico City, traveled south of the border to handle a family property owned by his mother, who died a few years earlier. The 63-year-old was staying at his family's home in Tepoztlán. Family and friends became alarmed when he failed to show up for a dentist's appointment the following day. Investigators on February 3 located Salkind in a local hospital, where he was reported to be under sedation due to being assaulted.

Personal life Salkind was married in 1976 to Skye Aubrey, with whom he has two children Anastasia and Sebastian. The couple divorced in 1979. He married Patricia Bonnet in 1980. The couple has one child. He later married Jane Chaplin. They have two sons together, and divorced in 1999. For the past twenty years he has lived with Deborah Moore. They have no children and are not married.

Filmography Producer Year Title Director1971 The Light at the Edge of the World Kevin Billington Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Romain Gary 1972 Bluebeard Edward Dmytryk 1973 The Three Musketeers Richard Lester 1974 The Four Musketeers 1976 The Twist Claude Chabrol 1977 The Prince and the Pauper Richard Fleischer 1978 Superman Richard Donner 1980 Superman II Richard Lester 1983 Superman III 1984 Supergirl Jeannot Szwarc 1985 Santa Claus: The Movie 1988–1992 Superboy Various 1992 Christopher Columbus: The Discovery John Glen 2015 Dancing for My Havana Claudio Del Punta