- Nickname
- Andy
- After achieving fame by writing and producing the massively popular sports films Hoosiers (1986) and Rudy (1993), Angelo Pizzo fielded numerous requests to pen more inspirational sports stories. At first he feared becoming pigeonholed as the go-to sports-movie guy. But eventually he accepted this destiny as he continued writing screenplays, most of which concerned athletics.
He was born in Wilmette, Illinois in 1948 to Anthony Pizzo, a pathologist, and his wife, Patricia. Three years later they moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where Pizzo grew up. He was an indifferent student at University High School but did much better at Indiana University, where he majored in political science and considered going to law school. But after graduation Pizzo felt directionless and uncertain about his future. He was a movie aficionado; his favorite film genre was epic, larger-than-life pictures that swept him into another world. And he had collected over 150 books on film. But to Pizzo it seemed impossible that he could ever actually work in Hollywood. After his father advised him to identify what he truly loved and then figure out how to make a living at it, Pizzo decided to enroll in film school. At the University of Southern California, he studied motion picture history, theory, and criticism, with the goal of becoming a professor. He left grad school after receiving an opportunity to work in television.
Pizzo's memories of Indiana high school basketball led him to write his first motion-picture screenplay, "Hoosiers." He viewed the story as being more about redemption, second chances, and relationships than about sports. "Hoosiers" was directed by his best friend from IU, David Anspaugh. Seven years later they reteamed to make the college football movie "Rudy." Pizzo saw Rudy's quest to play football for Notre Dame as being similar to his own youthful dream of working in Hollywood. Pizzo and Anspaugh's third collaboration was the 1950s World Cup soccer film The Game of Their Lives (2005). Pizzo ventured into directing with another college football drama, My All-American (2015).
Having never really adjusted to life in Hollywood, which he termed "a toxic environment of competitiveness and divisiveness," Pizzo moved back to his hometown of Bloomington in 2004.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousesGreta Lind(January 9, 1994 - May 18, 2010) (divorced, 2 children)Sally Reed(February 19, 1972 - February 5, 1979) (divorced)
- ChildrenAnthony Pizzo
- ParentsAnthony PizzoPatricia Murphy Pizzo
- Uplifting sports dramas based on or inspired by real people
- After thinking about writing a screenplay for years, Pizzo began writing Hoosiers (1986) after his alma mater Indiana University won the 1981 NCAA Division I men's basketball national championship.
- Met director David Anspaugh, his collaborator on Hoosiers (1986), Rudy (1993), and The Game of Their Lives (2005), at Indiana University, where both men were members of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
- Graduated from Indiana University in 1971. Earned a master's degree from the University of Southern California film school and completed some work toward a PhD.
- Directed several "Fulfilling the Promise" TV commercials that promote his alma mater Indiana University.
- Early in his career, Pizzo worked as a story editor at Warner Bros. Television. Later, at Time Life Films, he served as vice president of movies of the week and miniseries, and then as vice president of feature films.
- I had two movies made early in my career. Then, it was as if I had overdrawn at the karma bank. Sports movies were falling out of favor, largely because studios got seduced by international sales.
- If I can make people cry in screenplay form, I know we have a serious chance in movie form.
- You can't give away the power to other people to define who you are, what you can do, and how valuable your work is.
- When I decided I wanted to be in the film business, everybody told me I couldn't do it--the odds were too great, I'd be disappointed--and they meant it in the best way, the people who loved me and cared about me. ... If you ever give away the power to other people to tell you what you're capable of, you'll never be able to be fully realized as a human being.
- I don't dwell on anything that has happened in the past, good or bad. I'm only concerned with the future.
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