Charles Hirschhorn '79 (Producer, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, QUIZ SHOW, THE SANTA CLAUSE)

By Dayna Wilkinson

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Charles Hirschhorn '79 liked movies but he loved cooking, so after sophomore year at Harvard he took a year off to cook.

"I was on my feet, cooking in a hot restaurant kitchen twelve hours a day,” he recalls. "I quickly realized that cooking is much too difficult and I had to find a new way to make a living. I decided I wanted to work in the movie business.”

Back on campus, he took filmmaking studies and studio arts classes toward a joint degree in Economics and VES (Visual and Environmental Studies). He made contacts in the film industry through Harvard’s Office of Career Services and spent spring break junior and senior year in Los Angeles, meeting film executives and producers.

After graduation, he worked in Boston then went off to film school at USC—but not for long.