Jake Eberts

Jake Eberts, OC (July 10, 1941 – September 6, 2012) was a Canadian film producer, executive and financier. He is known for his work on Academy Award-winning titles Chariots of Fire (1981, uncredited), Gandhi, Dances with Wolves (1990), and the successful animated feature Chicken Run (2000). According to Filmink magazine "he was responsible for some of the greatest British films of all time."

Life and career Eberts was born John David Eberts in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Elizabeth (MacDougall), an interior decorator, and Edmond Eberts, who worked for an aluminum manufacturer. Eberts grew up in Montreal and Arvida. He attended Bishop's College School in Lennoxville, Quebec and graduated from McGill University (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 1962) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1966). Eberts' working career began as a start-up engineer for L'Air Liquide in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. He then spent three years as a Wall Street investor, including working at Laird Incorporated. He moved to London, England in 1971, where he joined Oppenheimer & Co., rising to the position of managing director of the UK brokerage and investment company in 1976.

With Goldcrest Films With no apparent prior interest in film, about 1977 he turned to film financing, and joined David Puttnam in founding Goldcrest Films, an independent film production company, for which he served as president and CEO. The company's venture was the animated movie Watership Down.

Eberts continued on until 1987 when he resigned for the last time. The company would continue on under new ownership. Eberts detailed the disaster in his 1990 memoir, My Indecision Is Final: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Goldcrest Films, co-authored with Terry Ilott.

As an independent Meanwhile, in 1985 he founded Allied Filmmakers with Jean Gontier, and became an affiliate of Pathé. With this company, in 1986 he made his debut as executive producer for Annaud's The Name of the Rose, based on the best-selling novel by Umberto Eco. He later produced or executive produced John Boorman's Hope and Glory, his second pair of back-to-back Oscar winners Driving Miss Daisy and Dances with Wolves; Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It and Henry Selick's adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. During this period Eberts was also responsible as executive for the expensive flop, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which went on to some popular success in home videocassette and DVD rentals.

Eberts moved to Paris in 1991.

Dances with Wolves was an early picture of Eberts to feature a Native American theme. Later productions included (as producer or executive producer), Bruce Beresford's Black Robe (1991), The Education of Little Tree (1997), and Richard Attenborough's Grey Owl (1999). The latter three pictures were all produced in Canada.

He also served as a co-executive producer, with Jeffrey Katzenberg, of Chicken Run. Other animated films Eberts produced include The Nutcracker Prince (1990), The Princess and the Cobbler, James and the Giant Peach, Doogal and Renaissance, and The Illusionist.

National Geographic Feature Films In 2002, Eberts became chairman of National Geographic Feature Films (NGFF) and executive produced such titles as the live-action animal feature, Two Brothers by Jean-Jacques Annaud. He also branched out into documentaries including Prisoner of Paradise, which was nominated for Best Picture in the feature documentary category at the 2003 Academy Awards, and America's Heart and Soul (2004). Under his direction, NGFF had an enormous success in 2005 by distributing the sleeper documentary March of the Penguins (original French title, La Marche de l'empereur) and worked again with the Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson on a nature epic to be shot in Canada.

His final project, Jerusalem, still in production at the time of his death, was an Imax 3D production released in 2013. Directed by Daniel Ferguson it chronicles a day in the life of three teenagers, a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian, in the Holy City. Eberts had also been developing The Last Empress, a $60 million joint Sino-American venture about the ruthless Empress Dowager Cixi, who effectively controlled the Qing dynasty in the late 19th century.

Honours and other achievements In 1992 Eberts was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was also awarded honorary doctorates by McGill University in 1998 and by Bishop's University in 1999. He served on the board of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Channel. He was also co-founder and CEO of MPI International, which provides high-speed, two-way video transmission capabilities to telcos, cable companies, hotels, hospitals, and schools.

By 2005, Eberts had been associated with films garnering 66 Oscar nominations, including nine for Best Picture. In 2006, March of the Penguins won the Oscar for Best Documentary.

In Bishop's College School, the tennis court is named "Jake and Fiona Eberts Memorial Tennis Court".

Death Eberts was diagnosed in late 2010 with uveal melanoma, a rare cancer of the eye, which spread to his liver. He died at the age of 71 in Montreal on September 6, 2012.

Filmography He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. Film Year Film Credit Notes 1978 Watership Down Executive producer Uncredited 1981 Chariots of Fire Executive producer Escape from New York Executive producer 1982 Pink Floyd – The Wall Executive producer The Plague Dogs Executive producer Gandhi Executive producer 1984 This Is Spinal Tap Executive producer Another Country Executive producer The Killing Fields Executive producer 1985 A Room with a View Executive producer 1986 The Name of the Rose Executive producer 1987 Hope and Glory Executive producer 1988 Me and Him Associate producer The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Executive producer 1989 Last Exit to Brooklyn Associate producer Driving Miss Daisy Co-executive producer 1990 Texasville Executive producer Dances with Wolves Executive producer The Nutcracker Prince Executive producer 1991 Black Robe Executive producer 1992 City of Joy A River Runs Through It Executive producer 1993 Super Mario Bros. The Thief and the Cobbler Executive producer 1994 No Escape Executive producer 1996 James and the Giant Peach Executive producer The Wind in the Willows 1997 The Education of Little Tree 1999 Grey Owl 2000 Chicken Run Executive producer The Legend of Bagger Vance 2003 Open Range 2004 Two Brothers 2005 The Magic Roundabout Executive producer 2006 Renaissance Executive producer 2007 Whatever Lola Wants 2009 Journey to Mecca Executive producer 2010 The Illusionist Executive producer The Way Back Executive producer Final film as a producer 2015 A Walk in the Woods Executive producer Posthumous release

Thanks Year Film Role 1985 The Emerald Forest Thanks 2002 K-19: The Widowmaker The producers wish to thank 2011 Hugo Thanks 2014 The Journey Home In memory of 2015 A Walk in the Woods The Little Prince

Television Year Title Credit Notes Other notes 1982 P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang Executive producer Uncredited Television film 2001 Snow in August Television film 2006 Skyland Associate producer 2011−12 Iron Man: Armored Adventures Associate producerExecutive producer

Thanks Year Title Role Notes 2011 Kingdom of the Oceans Special thanks Documentary