Film & TV
Rob Tapert
born 1955 · film and television producer, writer, director
Royal Oak-born producer who co-founded Renaissance Pictures with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, produced The Evil Dead and co-created Xena: Warrior Princess.
- Born
Royal Oak, Michigan
age 71- Birth name
- Robert Gerard Tapert
- Detroit years
- 1955–1984
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rob Tapert was born in Royal Oak on May 14, 1955, and grew up in Michigan. He got into filmmaking while studying economics at Michigan State University, where his roommate and friend Ivan Raimi introduced him to Ivan's younger brother Sam and to Bruce Campbell, two suburban Detroit teenagers already making Super 8 movies. In 1979 the three formed Renaissance Pictures, and after a run of short films Tapert produced their first feature, The Evil Dead, raising money from local investors in metro Detroit. The film was first shown at Detroit's Redford Theatre in October 1981, won over the crowd at Cannes and, with a rave from Stephen King, found release in the United States and abroad. Tapert went on to produce Raimi's films and, in the 1990s, the hit syndicated series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He married Xena star Lucy Lawless in 1998.
Highlights
- Co-founded Renaissance Pictures (1979) with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell
- Produced The Evil Dead (1981) and its sequels
- Co-created Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001)
- Produced Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Spartacus
- Married to actress Lucy Lawless since 1998
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1981
Redford Theatre
The Evil Dead, produced by Tapert, had its first screening here on October 15, 1981.