Paul Maslansky, Producer of ‘Police Academy’ Films, Dies at 91

Paul Maslansky, the producer of the “Police Academy” film franchise, had died. He was 91. Maslansky’s death was shared by “Police Academy” writer Pat Profit, who wrote on Facebook, “Thankful for meeting Paul Maslansky. He hired me and Neal Israel to research and write Police Academy. First film I ever wrote.”

“Paul has passed away. Sally and his son.. sorry for your loss. He left behind a trail of comedies. Good life,” Profit added.

Though Maslansky also produced other films, including “The Castle of the Living Dead” and “Return to Oz,” the “Police Academy” movies were his most famous work. In 2021, he told Rewind Magazine that releasing the movies consecutively was “almost like a sitcom.”

“You had Hugh Wilson, who came from WKRP in Cincinnati, and then Jerry Paris, who was of course Gary Marshall’s guy,” he continued. “And that’s really why we were prepared for it; we had a cast that was steady, and every year everything was just serendipitously there, and the studio kept asking to make another one because the results were just so damn good, and the costs for these pictures was not that much. It was just really smooth operation, and I had the right directors, production managers, and just overall people in general all of the time.”

Maslansky also said that outside of the first movie in the series, the final one is his favorite — in part because of where it was filmed. “I do have a favorite other than the first, and it’s because it was under great difficulties making it, and that was the last one, in Russia. I made a number of films in the Soviet Union, and then I decided to bring ‘Police Academy’ there for ‘Mission to Moscow,’ and Warner Bros. said they wouldn’t finance it,” he explained.

“But eventually they agreed, and then we went over, and it was then they had the counter revolution in the middle of the picture (Laughs). But we managed to complete it, and it’s really a silly movie that a lot of people seem to enjoy.”

Maslansky said that before he committed to filmmaking he attended law school at NYU for one year. Though he didn’t stick with the program, he “met some terrific people at that time.” He transferred to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA for his undergraduate studies and also attended Kansas City University.

Paul Maslansky was born on Nov. 23, 1933, in New York City.

Survivors include his partner, Sally Emr, children, Sacha, Sabina and Samuel, and grandchildren Gigi and Ashton.

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