Norman Twain

Norman Twain was a film and theater producer best known for his work on the 1989 movie Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman. The film was based on the true story of Joe Clark, a dedicated principal at an inner-city school. The movie won the Image Award from the NAACP for outstanding motion picture of the year.

Twain also contributed to the films The Hotel New Hampshire, starring Rob Lowe and Jodie Foster; Heavens Fall, with Timothy Hutton; Spinning Into Butter, starring Sarah Jessica Parker; and the animated film My Dog Tulip, with voice work by Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini.

Additionally, Twain worked on several television projects, including the series Standing Room Only, the miniseries To Serve and Protect and the telefilms It’s a Bird…It’s a Place…It’s Superman!, Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way and Boycott, starring Jeffrey Wright and Terrence Howard.

Twain also worked in the theater, producing several plays and musicals on Broadway, including 1964’s Bajour, 1967’s Henry, Sweet Henry and a 1969 revival of Hamlet that was directed by Tony Richardson.

After graduating from Columbia University, Twain got his start off-Broadway producing Tennessee Williams’ Garden District and Maxwell Anderson’s The Golden Six. His final New York production was The World of Lenny Bruce, also off-Broadway.

Twain died August 6, 2016, in Los Angeles. He was 85.