Don Simpson
Donald Clarence Simpson was an American film producer, screenwriter, and actor. Simpson, along with his producing partner Jerry Bruckheimer, produced such hit films as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, and The Rock. His films would go on to earn $3 billion worldwide.
Early life
Simpson was born October 29, 1943, in Seattle, Washington, the son of June Hazel, a housewife, and Russell J. Simpson, a mechanic at Boeing at the time of his birth. He grew up in Juneau, Alaska. His parents were strict Baptist believers and Simpson would go to church 4-5 times a week. He would call himself a "straight-A Bible student. He attended West Anchorage High School, followed by the University of Oregon. After graduation, he worked as a ski instructor in Utah, and then he moved to San Francisco where he worked for a theatrical advertising agency and did public relations for the First International Erotic Film Festival.Career
In the early 1970s, Simpson moved to Los Angeles and got a job marketing exploitation films for Warner Bros in 1971, handling distribution marketing for the movies Woodstock and A Clockwork Orange. In 1973, Simpson got a job at Paramount Pictures. While there, he co-wrote the 1976 film Cannonball, in which he also had a small role. By 1977, he was named vice-president of production at Paramount, and president in 1981. He was fired at Paramount in 1982 after passing out during a studio meeting due to drug use. He was working on 8 productions at once, and would regularly throw a tantrum while in production.Soon after, he forged a partnership with fellow producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The two would go on to produce some of the most financially successful films of the 1980s: Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II. In 1985 and again in 1988, he and Bruckheimer were named Producers of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners.
In 1990, Simpson and Bruckheimer signed a five-year deal with Paramount worth a reported $300 million. The deal would prove to be short lived. Later that year, the Simpson/Bruckheimer-produced Days of Thunder starring Tom Cruise was released. The auto racing film received mixed reviews and grossed $158 million. While the film was still a financial success, it did not match the success of Simpson and Bruckheimer's previous films. Simpson and Bruckheimer blamed Paramount for the film's lackluster box office returns stating that the studio rushed the planning and release of the film. In turn, Paramount blamed the film's performance on Simpson and Bruckheimer's overspending. The duo mutually parted with Paramount shortly thereafter.
In 1991, the two signed with Disney. Their first film for Disney, The Ref, was a financial flop. Their following films, Dangerous Minds, Crimson Tide, and Bad Boys, all released in 1995, brought the pair back to success.
Personality
Simpson and Bruckheimer became very rich from their movie production activities. The duo chose black as their signature color. Simpson would wear black Levi jeans 501 only before their first wash, and then throw them away. He attended the Canyon Ranch in Arizona for occasional working out and tanning. He claimed he never underwent plastic surgery, but sources imply he went through 10 different plastic surgeries between 1988 and 1994, including a penis-enlargement procedure. Those multiple surgeries eventually led to infection, and many reversal procedures were initiated. He claimed several times that, as a producer, "our obligation is to make money". On the set of Days of Thunder, he dated Donna Wilson who ended up dating the director Tony Scott and marrying him. Simpson worked out everyday with special equipment provided by Arnold Schwarzenegger.He was known for his loud mouth and provocative quotes, such as "I'm surprised for a smart Jew he's as white-bread as he is" when talking about Steven Spielberg, and "Any person who suggested David Lynch for Dune should have every part of their anatomy examined". He was a life-long fan of Warren Beatty. He claimed he discovered Michael Mann and launched the career of Debra Winger. He also claimed to have picked Richard Gere for American Gigolo, and to be the creator of the Beverly Hills Cop idea, which Michael Eisner denied. In the movie industry, professionals working with Simpson would refer to the "Don Simpson Discount Factor", a way to tone down the producer's extravaganza and exaggerations.
As Simpson and Bruckheimer's success grew, so did Simpson's reputation for being a brash "party animal". He would admit that "next to eating and having sex, making movies is the best thing in the world". Simpson's debaucherous lifestyle was well known amongst those in Hollywood, and has been documented in a number of sources. He was a fixture on the "Hollywood cocaine-party" circuit throughout the 1970s and 80s, and in his later years became known for throwing lavish all-night parties at his mansion. An entire chapter of the book You'll Never Make Love in This Town Again discusses his frequent sex parties and preference for S & M. He would also administer himself testosterone shots in his butt cheeks to boost his sexual drive. According to the call-girl Alexandra Datig, Simpson would audition struggling actresses for his movies, convince them to have sex with him, and secretly film his sexual intercourse with them.
Eventually, a rumor spread there was a hit out on him after he supposedly dated the girlfriend of a mafioso.
Drugs and death
Drug addiction
Simpson had been using cocaine since the 1980s, but increased his usage over the years. His excessive spending and erratic mood swings caused by his drug use were well known within the Hollywood industry by the 1990s. According to screenwriter James Toback, both David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg had attempted to get Simpson to go to rehab for his drug use.Simpson refused to admit himself into a traditional rehab facility and, in 1995, employed Dr. Stephen Ammerman to help him with his addiction. Ammerman, who had a history of drug abuse himself, believed that in order for Simpson to quit drugs, he had to use other drugs to combat the effects of painful withdrawal symptoms. Ammerman designed what has been described as a "dangerously unorthodox" detox program, which included the use of several medications for Simpson to take at home to kick his drug habit. On August 15, 1995, Ammerman was found dead in the shower of the pool house on Simpson's estate. It was later determined that Ammerman died of an accidental overdose of cocaine, Valium, venlafaxine, and morphine.
Frustrated with Simpson's escalating drug use and declining work, Jerry Bruckheimer terminated their partnership in December 1995. The two agreed to finish work on The Rock, which was already in production. The Rock was released after Simpson's death and is dedicated to his memory. In a 1994 interview with The New York Times, Don Simpson declared: "The days of drugs, sex and rock-and-roll are long over, at least they are for us old guys," and, "I'm not going to tell you I've never done drugs: that would be a lie, but I do have one addiction. Unfortunately, it's food."
Death
On January 19, 1996, Simpson was found dead in the bathroom of his Bel Air, Los Angeles home. His death was initially attributed to "natural causes". An autopsy and toxicology report later determined that Simpson had died of heart failure caused by combined drug intoxication while going to the bathroom. At the time of his death, there were 21 different drugs in his system including antidepressants, stimulants, sedatives, and tranquilizers. In August 1996, investigative reporter Chuck Philips of the Los Angeles Times revealed that Simpson had been obtaining large quantities of prescription drugs from 15 different doctors, and that police found 2,200 prescription pills lined up in alphabetical order in his bedroom closet.A 1998 book by journalist Charles Fleming reported that Simpson's prescription drug expenses totaled more than $60,000 a month at the time of his death. He also referred to Don Simpson as "a supercharged simple-minded creature, an Aesop's fable on crystal meth."
Personal life
Simpson was never married, and lived by himself in his Coldwater Canyon mansion in Beverly Hills.In the 1970s, Don Simpson took classes to join the Church of Scientology, but quit after spending $25,000 and not seeing any significant personal improvements. During the shooting of Days of Thunder, Simpson threw David Miscavige off the production because he refused to pay for a more expensive Scientology-patented sound recording device.