Ned Stone Tanen (c. September 20, 1931 – January 5, 2009) was an American film studio executive behind films that included American Graffiti and Animal House.
Tanen was born in Los Angeles and served in the United States Air Force after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his military service, he got a job in 1954 in the MCA mailroom. He helped form the Uni Records label at MCA in 1967. Artists recording on the Un...
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Ned Stone Tanen (c. September 20, 1931 – January 5, 2009) was an American film studio executive behind films that included American Graffiti and Animal House.
Tanen was born in Los Angeles and served in the United States Air Force after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his military service, he got a job in 1954 in the MCA mailroom. He helped form the Uni Records label at MCA in 1967. Artists recording on the Uni label included Neil Diamond, Elton John, Olivia Newton-John and the Strawberry Alarm Clock. Uni Records later merged with Decca Records to become MCA Records.
He served as production supervisor on the 1971 Milos Forman film Taking Off, which became his springboard into film production at Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of MCA. Tanen was named president of Universal's film division in 1976. His projects at Universal included a wide-ranging variety of box office and critical success, including the 1973 film American Graffiti, Jaws (1975),...
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