Michael Grais
Encyclopedia
Michael Grais is a screenwriter, most well-known as the co-writer of Poltergeist (1982).

He has also produced such movies as Great Balls of Fire!
Great Balls of Fire! (film)
Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...

(1989, executive producer), Marked for Death
Marked for Death
Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface.The film is widely considered by...

(1990) and Sleepwalkers
Sleepwalkers (film)
Sleepwalkers is a 1992 American horror film based on an original screenplay by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris.-Plot summary:...

(1992).

Biography

After attending Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...

 and N.Y.U. Film School, Grais set out for Los Angeles, where he began a TV writing career before eventually moving into feature films.

From his association with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, Grais co-wrote Poltergeist. Its success led to the inevitable sequel, Poltergeist II, which Grais co-wrote and produced. He then co-wrote and executive produced the TV pilot Visitors From the Unknown for CBS and executive-produced the film Great Balls of Fire!
Great Balls of Fire! (film)
Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...

, starring Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

 as Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...

.

In 1990, he co-wrote and produced Marked for Death
Marked for Death
Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface.The film is widely considered by...

, with Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...

. In 1992, he produced Steven King’s Sleepwalkers
Sleepwalkers (film)
Sleepwalkers is a 1992 American horror film based on an original screenplay by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris.-Plot summary:...

, and co-wrote Cool World
Cool World
Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he created, and is seduced by one of his characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to...

for director Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...

. In 2000, he executive-produced Who Killed Atlanta's Children for Showtime. Grais also oversaw production on the syndicated series, The Immortal
The Immortal
"The Immortal" is a short story by noted Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, first published in the collection El Aleph in 1949. The story tells about a character who mistakenly achieves immortality and then, weary of a long life, struggles to lose it and writes an account of his experiences...

.

Filmography

  • Baretta
    Baretta
    Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...

    (1975) (TV)
  • Starsky and Hutch
    Starsky and Hutch
    Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...

    (1976) (TV)
  • Kojak
    Kojak
    Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...

    (1977) (TV)
  • Death Hunt
    Death Hunt
    Death Hunt is a 1981 film starring Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Carl Weathers, Maury Chaykin, Ed Lauter and Andrew Stevens...

    (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1981)
  • Poltergeist (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1982)
  • Poltergeist II: The Other Side
    Poltergeist II: The Other Side
    Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a 1986 horror film. A sequel to Poltergeist, it features the return of the original's family and once again sees a spirit trying to harm their daughter, Carol Anne. It received mixed reviews from critics and did not gross as much at the box office as its...

    (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1986) (also Producer)
  • Great Balls of Fire!
    Great Balls of Fire! (film)
    Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...

    (1989) (Executive Producer)
  • Marked for Death
    Marked for Death
    Marked for Death is a 1990 action film directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter. Upon moving back to his home town, Hatcher finds it taken over by a gang of vicious Jamaican drug dealers, led by Screwface.The film is widely considered by...

    (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1990) (also Producer)
  • UFO Abductions (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1991) (TV) (Producer)
  • Sleepwalkers
    Sleepwalkers (film)
    Sleepwalkers is a 1992 American horror film based on an original screenplay by Stephen King and directed by Mick Garris.-Plot summary:...

    (1992) (Producer)
  • Cool World
    Cool World
    Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he created, and is seduced by one of his characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to...

    (with Mark Victor
    Mark Victor
    Mark Victor is a screenwriter. He co-wrote Poltergeist , Poltergeist II: The Other Side , Marked for Death , and Cool World .-References:...

    ) (1992)
  • Christina's House (1999) (Executive Producer)
  • Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
    Who Killed Atlanta's Children?
    Who Killed Atlanta's Children? is a TV movie about the Atlanta child murders...

    (2000) (TV) (Executive Producer)
  • The Immortal
    The Immortal (TV series)
    The Immortal is an American television series, which aired on ABC from September 1970 to January 1971. The series is based on a pilot movie of the same name, which aired in September 1969. The pilot is based on the science fiction novel The Immortals, by James Gunn. Although the series was canceled...

    (2001) (TV)
  • Deception
    Deception
    Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...

    (2001) (Producer)
  • Lakeshore Drive (2006) (Director/Executive Producer)
  • Behind the Wall
    Behind the Wall (2008 film)
    Behind the Wall is a 2008 English horror film directed by Paul Schneider. It stars Lindy Booth, Lawrence Dane, James Thomas in the lead roles....

    (2008) (Producer)

External links

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