Friday, August 19, 2022

Up in Smoke Assistant Producer Mike Moder Dies At 86

Mike Moder, the Emmy-nominated producer whose credits included Beverly Hills Cop and Crimson Tide, died August 15. He was 86.

The son of director Dick Moder, he was born on April 25, 1936, in North Hollywood. He attended Notre Dame High and graduated from Loyola University before starting his career in the film industry in 1960. Moder’s credits include working as a first AD on Jeremiah Johnson, Little Big Man, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Rio Lobo, Diner and Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, before he produced those big studio films among many other features and TV.

He shared an Emmy nom as a producer of the 1997 telepic Cinderella, starring Brandy Norwood.

Moder also was a production manager on dozens of TV shows and telepics, ranging from The Wild Wild West and miniseries Blind Ambition to Easy Street, Snoops, Father Dowling Mysteries, Jake and the Fatman and several Perry Mason and Diagnosis Murder TV movies. Per IMDb, he was executive in charge of production for the first seven seasons of ABC’s Matlock, starring Andy Griffith.

He also served as first AD on The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, the 1976 telefilm starring John Travolta, and was an AD on episodes of such 1960s series as The Big Valley, The Rifleman, Stagecoach West, Ensign O’Toole, The Law and Mrs. Jones and Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Moder and his wife Patti married in 1958 and went on to raise Debbi, Jane, John, Jyl and Danny. Moder was the proud grandfather of nine, and had two great grandchildren.

After Patti passed away in 2001, Moder married Marisa Megurian in 2003. They were living in Nipomo, CA, at the time of his death. Moder will be remembered not only for his towering presence and understated humor but also for his wealth of stories from a full life well lived.

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