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Zack Norman (born Howard Jerrold Zuker, May 27, 1940, in Boston, MA) is an American actor, producer, writer, comedian, musician and film financier. Best known for his role as Ira in 20th Century Fox’s Romancing the Stone (1984) and as Kaz Naiman in Paramount Classics’ Festival In Cannes (2002), he has also co-starred in films such as Ragtime (1981) and Cadillac Man (1990). On television, he has guest-starred in such popular series as The A-Team (1985) and Baywatch (1993), had a recurring role on The Nanny (1993 - 1995) and was featured in several TV movies including At Home with the Webbers (1993). As Howard Zuker, he has produced, presented and/or financed more than forty motion pictures, including Hearts And Minds (1974), which won the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. His most recent release is the Romantic Comedy Overnight (2012). He is in pre-production with filmmaker Martin Keegan for the stoner comedy Gone To Pot and is developing a TV sitcom with producer Michael Gruskoff.

Early Life
Zack was born Howard Jerrold Zuker in Boston, MA, the first child of Sydney (1910-1980) and Evelyn Bloomberg (1914-2005) Zuker. He grew up in Revere, MA and began studying the drums at age 9, starting his own band. At age 12, while in Junior High School, he made his television debut on a local Boston program in April, 1953. Zack attended Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts and went on to study theater at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, appearing in a number of plays while continuing to work gigs as a drummer in the Printers Alley section of Nashville. He then moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and privately with Sanford Meisner. On the side, Zack worked such odd jobs as hat check boy at the 21 Club, maitre d’ at Paddy’s Clam House on 34th Street, and demonstrating pogo sticks for Macy’s Department Store at Christmas.

Legit Theater and Stand-up
During this period, Zack also began working as a stand-up comedian in strip joints and nightclubs while producing his first Off-Broadway play, the New York premiere of John Arden’s Live Like Pigs, which opened on June 7, 1965. In 1966 he left for Europe to work the U.S. Army Base Circuit operating out of Frankfurt, Germany, playing army clubs throughout Western Europe. On June 7, 1967, Zack opened at the Playboy Club in London, England, where Variety wrote he was “hysterical … one of the funniest guys ever to cross these shores”. Soon he was starring in every Playboy Club in their 18-venue circuit, as well as appearing in major hotels and nightclubs such as The Flamingo in Las Vegas and New York’s legendary Copacabana with The Temptations. Zack made his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on April 28, 1969. As a stage actor, he starred in more than 20 plays. His performance in the title role of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Connecticut Center for the Arts in Stanford, CT (1980) was critically acclaimed.

Motion Pictures
Zack created his first movie opportunities ( as producer, actor and financier) in May of 1969 at the Cannes International Film Festival. Using a film fund financed by Boston Real Estate Developers (Zack had attracted them by repackaging real estate tax incentives for motion picture investment), he put together the Italian-made Which Way Do You Dig? (a/k/a Dark of the Day / And The Bombs Keep Falling / I Cannoni Tuonano Ancora), in which he also co-starred alongside Spaghetti Western actor Robert Woods. Over the course of his career, Zack would go on to act in, produce, and finance scores of movies, raising in excess of $100,000,000 for motion picture production, most notably with French producer Henry Lange (1938-2002; they made over a dozen films together ) and with Hollywood legend Bert Schneider (1933-2011): Hearts And Minds, Warner Bros., 1974; The Gentleman Tramp, 1976; and Paramount’s 1977 Tracks, which in addition was produced by and co-starred Zack and was directed by Henry Jaglom, who would become Zack’s most frequent moviemaking partner. As producer, presenter, financier and actor, Zack has collaborated with Jaglom for the last 40 years on such films as Sitting Ducks (1980), Venice, Venice (1992) , Babyfever (1994) , Hollywood Dreams (2005) , Irene in Time (2009) , Queen of the Lot (2010) and Festival in Cannes (2002) , for which Zack received the best reviews of his film acting career.

In 2006, Variety’s Elizabeth Guider wrote of Zack: “There are people through the decades who become regular fixtures in the pages of Variety – everyone from Al Jolson to Jimmy Durante to Michael Ovitz to Harvey Weinstein. But no one’s presence has been as constant as that of Zack Norman.”

Film acting

 * The “M” Word (2013)
 * Queen of the Lot (2010)
 * Irene in Time (2009)
 * Emma Blue (2008)
 * Hollywood Dreams (2006)
 * Festival in Cannes (2001)
 * Has Been (1998)
 * Get a Job (1998)
 * Crosscut (1996)
 * Mojave Moon (1996)
 * Baby Fever (1994)
 * Lucky Ducks (1993)
 * Venice, Venice (1992)
 * Cadillac Man (1990)
 * Chief Zabu (1988)
 * America (1986)
 * Romancing The Stone (1984)
 * Ragtime (1981)
 * Sitting Ducks (1980)
 * Fingers (1978)
 * Tracks (1977)
 * Gums (1976)
 * Touch Me Not (1974)
 * Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me (1971)
 * Which Way Do You Dig? (1969)
 * Love With The Proper Stranger (1963)

Television acting

 * The Nanny (3 episodes, 1993-1995)
 * Az áldozat  [The Victim]   (Hungarian TV documentary, 1994)
 * Lush Life (1993)
 * Baywatch (1 episode, 1993)
 * At Home with the Webbers (1993)
 * The Flash (1 episode, 1991)
 * Az aranyifjú [The Golden Boy]   (1986, Hungarian TV movie)
 * The “A” Team (Double episode, 1985)