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n 1996, 47 years after leaving USC to take television by storm, David L. Wolper received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree for his outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. The producer has been a dedicated Trojan throughout his life, serving as a founding member of the Board of Councilors at the USC School of Cinema-Television and playing an integral role in the campaign to build the current cinema complex. He has been honored by the university with the College of Continuing Education Award for Distinguished Service to the Community (1981), the Alumni Merit Award (1982), the Alumni Association’s Asa V. Call Award for Outstanding Achievement (1985), and the USC School of Cinema-Television’s Mary Pickford Award (1996).
“And,” he adds, “I root for the football team.”
At the April 28 dedication of the Wolper Center, the producer with dean Elizabeth Daley, USC President Steven B. Sample, and university librarian Jerry Campbell. |
This year, Wolper announced that he would open his personal and private archives – the record of his life’s work – to the public. In addition to the invaluable collection, Wolper and his wife Gloria have donated more than $2.5 million to create the David L. Wolper Center for the Study of the Documentary at USC, based in Doheny Memorial Library.
“David saved everything – every production note, every script, award, contract – down to the last detail,” said cinema-television dean Elizabeth Daley at the April 28 dedication. “He has documented the evolution of the television industry and, in essence, American culture with the collection that he entrusts to USC. We are honored to be the repository for this truly unique and wonderful archive.”
The center adds to the library’s already world-class cinema-television collection, according to dean of university libraries Jerry D. Campbell. “The archive will be an unexcelled resource for scholars, historians and documentary filmmakers for years to come. It chronicles not only the major historical events of the last 50 years, but also preserves an important era of our culture.”
One of Wolper’s three children, Mark, has followed in the mega producer’s footsteps, graduating in 1983 from the School of Cinema-Television and joining his father in the entertainment business. The older Wolper stepped back in 1993 to allow his son to take the lead at Wolper Productions.
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