National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Family Reunion

Neal Israel is an American actor, screenwriter, film and television producer and director best known for his comedic work in the 1980s. Israel started his career on the Broadway stage as assistant to legendary director George Abbott. After working at the New Dramatists Guild and the Eugene O'Neill... Playwrights Conference he came to LA, and was an executive at both ABC and CBS. During this time he wrote and directed the break through indie hit, TUNNELVISION which introduced such future stars as Chevy Chase, John Candy and Al Franken. On television, he wrote RINGO, a special that starred Ringo Starr and George Harrison. He then wrote with his partner, Pat Proft, the first POLICE ACADEMY movie which spawned seven sequels. He directed and co wrote Bachelor Party, which starred Tom Hanks. He followed this with the comedy Moving Violations. Real Genius, another of his scripts, was made into a successful film starring Val Kilmer, and in 1987, he produced the film Three O'Clock High. He also directed "Breaking The Rules" starring Jason Bateman and the cult classic, "Surf Ninjas" with Rob Schneider and Leslie Nielson.
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