James G. Robinson, the former auto executive who co-founded Morgan Creek Entertainment with Joe Roth and had producing credits on films including “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “True Romance,” died Feb. 15, according to a family obituary. He was 90.
Robinson famously sparred with Lindsay Lohan during the production of Morgan Creek’s “Georgia Rule” in 2006, sending her a letter calling her “discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional.” He described her as a “spoiled child” and said she had “endangered the quality of this picture.” At the film’s premiere, director Garry Marshall told Variety, “We needed that letter to get her back to work.”
Born in Baltimore, Robinson was involved in successful automotive businesses before he began providing bridge financing to Hollywood films and then moving into producing.
Robinson helped finance and launch Morgan Creek in 1988 with experienced Hollywood exec Joe Roth. The shingle went on to produce films like the hit “Ace Ventura” series, “Young Guns,” “Dead Ringers” “Pacific Heights,” “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.”
Robinson had recent credits on the 2023 “The Exorcist: Believer” and the “Dead Ringers” TV series.
”When you’re working at a studio, where it’s nice and comfortable, there’s no pain and in my mind no short gain,” Robinson told Variety in 1997, ”Bottom line is that the greatest feeling in the world is when you make a movie that you know is good and plays unusually well. That’s an emotional home run.”
His son David Robinson is president of Morgan Creek Entertainment Group.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Barbara Lois Robinson; sons, Michael Joseph Robinson (Dawn), James Patrick Robinson, Matthew Brian Robinson (Kim), David Christopher Robinson (Susan), and Thomas Vernon West; and his daughter, Elizabeth Robinson deVilliers (David).
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