Robert Lieberman, the director of the cult-classic abduction thriller Fire in the Sky, has died. According to his manager John Bauman, Lieberman died on July 1st after an extended battle with cancer. He was 75.
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In addition to Fire in the Sky, Lieberman directed Disney’s D3: The Mighty Ducks and dozens of episodes of television including episodes for The X-Files, Dexter, and The Expanse. Prior to his time in films and television, Lieberman directed thousands of commercials for the world’s biggest companies, working with the likes of McDonald’s, Hallmark, and Oreo amongst many others.
Lieberman’s work was so prevalent in commercials, he won the DGA’s inaugural director’s award in 1979. The filmmaker would go on to receive the award once again in 1995.
“My advice to people who are trying to get in the business is you’ve got to be absolutely fearless and relentless. If you want it, you’ve got to want it with everything in your being,” Lieberman would often say according to his son Nick (via Deadline). “I wanted to be in this business, and now looking back over my whole career, I love that I spent my life in this business. I got to go to work and have fun: Do what I wanted to do, create what I wanted to create, wake up in the morning with blank canvases and go out and paint — and with somebody else’s money. It’s craziness, and I got to do it for over 50 years.”
Lieberman is survived by his wife Victoria Peters, sons Nick, Lorne and Joey, daughters Erin and son-in-law Trent Othick, step-daughter Kristen Konvitz, three grandchildren, and a sister Fern Kelman.
