Preferred Citation:	Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Irwin Winkler Papers (Film Collection FI-54188).
	Acquisition:	Gift, 2023 (2023-01-0004-G)
	Processed by:	Kelsey Handler, 2025

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

	Irwin Winkler is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter whose career in the film industry has spanned six decades. Born on May 25, 1931, in New York City to Sol and Anna Winkler, Irwin grew up in a Jewish family in Coney Island. He attended New York University and graduated with a degree in American Literature in 1955, after serving in the army for two years. He began his career in the mailroom of William Morris Agency before becoming a talent agent and then shifting into film production in the 1960s.
	Winkler produced his first film, Double Trouble, in 1967. Shortly after, he and producer Robert Chartoff founded Chartoff-Winkler Productions. One of their early films, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They (1969), earned nine Academy Award nominations. In 1976, they produced Rocky, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. They went on to produce several sequels in the Rocky franchise, including the spin-off, Creed (2015), which also saw their sons, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, and William Chartoff, as co-producers. Though The Right Stuff (1983) was the final film from Chartoff-Winkler Productions before the company dissolved in 1985, Irwin and Robert periodically worked together and remained friends until Robert’s death in 2015.
	Throughout his career, Winkler has frequently collaborated with actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese. The trio’s films include New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and The Irishman (2019). Winkler has also worked with the two individually on other films.
	Beyond producing, Winkler has directed seven films. He wrote the screenplay for his directorial debut, Guilty by Suspicion (1991), which starred De Niro. Other directing credits include Night and the City (1992), The Net (1995), At First Sight (1999), Life as a House (2001), De-Lovely (2004), and Home of the Brave (2006).
	The recipient of several industry honors, including the 2017 David O. Selznick Achievement Award from the Producers Guild of America and the Commandeur des Arts et Lettres from the French government, Winkler was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000. He has received four Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, including a win for Rocky, and his films have been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with over 60 Oscar nominations.
	Winkler married actress Margo Winkler (née Melson) in 1959, and she has appeared in small roles in many of his films. The couple has three sons, Charles, David, and Adam. Charles and David produce and direct in film and television, and Adam is a law professor at UCLA.

	The papers of producer, director, and screenwriter Irwin Winkler document his professional life and consist of scripts, production materials, photographs, correspondence, diaries, drafts of his memoir, clippings, audiovisual materials, and posters. The papers are organized into two series: I. Films, 1966-2021, undated; and II. Professional and Career-Related, 1969-2021, undated. Every feature film Winkler produced starting with Double Trouble (1967) through The Irishman (2019) is featured in the papers, except Blue (1968). Also not represented are any films after 2019, including Creed III (2022).
	During processing, paper clips, rusty staples, and metal brads were removed and replaced with paper sleeves to maintain groupings. Due to their ephemeral nature, faxes throughout the collection were photocopied and the preservation copies placed in front of the original. Social security numbers were redacted from several bound volumes of production material.
	A small amount of material in the collection was cleaned to remove mold spores after it arrived at the Ransom Center. The container list indicates which folders contain materials that were treated for mold contamination. A group of journals did not have visible mold, but researchers who are sensitive to mold may wish to wear a mask while examining this material in the Center’s Reading Room.
	Series I. Films is arranged into two subseries: A. Produced, 1966-2021, undated; and B. Unproduced, 1974-2008, undated.
	Subseries A. Produced films forms the bulk of the papers and includes screenplays, photographs, posters, clippings, publicity materials, and production materials such as call sheets, storyboards, budgets, deal memos, production reports, production and set designs, and ephemera. Also included are film clappers for each of the seven films Winkler directed. These seven films generally have the largest representation in the subseries, especially Guilty by Suspicion (which Winkler also wrote) and De-Lovely. Material is arranged alphabetically by film title. Within each film entry, scripts are listed first chronologically, with production materials following in alphabetical order.
	Much of the material in this subseries is bound in black leather and faux leather volumes. The film title is stamped in gilt on the cover, and the title and year are stamped in gilt on the spine. This year usually indicates the year the film was released, not necessarily the dates of the documents within the volume, the latter of which is the year listed in the container list. These volumes are indicated by '(bound)' in the container list, and given their size, most only have an associated box number and no folder number. While most of these volumes contain screenplays, many contain production material, which is usually indicated on the cover of the volume and transcribed in single quotes in the container list as appropriate.
	Screenplay drafts typically have multiple writers throughout the writing process and across various versions. Names are transcribed as they appear on the screenplay. Earl Mac Rauch wrote many of the screenplays in Series I. Several variants of his name are used on these materials, including Earl Rauch, Earl MacRauch, Earl M. Rauch, and Earl McRauch.
	Subseries B. Unproduced films consists of material related to screenplays and projects that Winkler read, pursued, or worked on, sometimes extensively and over several years, but that never made it to the screen for a variety of reasons. This subseries contains mostly screenplay drafts, with some correspondence interfiled. Entries are arranged alphabetically by screenplay or project title. Within a work, best effort was made to put draft versions in chronological order, but that prescribed order is not necessarily an accurate representation of the life of the script. The entry with the largest representation in this subseries is for a work variously titled Winds of Change, Doctor, Twenty-Five Thousand Days, M.D., or Clinic. These drafts are entered under Winds of Change and span the years 1994-1999. Contributors included Winkler, David M. Eyre, Mark Solomon, Rob Cowan, and Nelson McCormick, though McCormick only appears to have worked on revisions and is never credited on the title page. Many of these drafts have Winkler’s edits and annotations.
	Of note is material for an adaptation of the novel Dessa Rose by Sherley Anne Williams. Winkler was set to direct the film, but production was canceled just before filming began in 1988. Included are screenplay drafts, correspondence from author and screenwriter Williams, and production materials such as storyboards, pre-production photographs, and costume designs and fabric samples. Dessa Rose is the only entry in Subseries II. that contains this variety of material.
	While there is no material by or from Winkler’s longtime producing partner Robert Chartoff, he is mentioned heavily in the diaries and memoir drafts in Series II.
	Series II. Professional and Career-Related is arranged into four subseries: A. Diaries, 1981-2019; B. A Life in Movies: Stories from 50 Years in Hollywood (memoir, 2019), 2010s, undated; C. Correspondence, 1969-2021, undated; and D. Subseries D. Awards and Honors, 1990-2016, undated.
	Subseries A. Diaries contains diaries that Winkler began keeping in 1981. All entries are in notebooks, except the entries from 1981 to 1983, which are written on loose legal pad paper and hotel stationery. The diaries document Winkler's life as a producer, offer candid opinions, and give insight into the film industry. They were later transcribed and edited to eventually become the foundation of Winkler’s memoir, A Life in Movies: Stories from 50 Years in Hollywood (2019). This memoir is the subject of Subseries B. Not all the material—or opinions—in the diaries are included in the published book.
	Subseries B. A Life in Movies contains the working notes, recollections, and journal entries Winkler used to write his memoir. It is arranged in five sections: Diary transcriptions, Drafts, Collated memoir materials, Film files, and Notes. Material in Diary transcriptions, Drafts, and Film files is heavily annotated and edited by Winkler.
	The diary transcriptions were in no apparent order and during processing, they were sorted and organized chronologically by date, with only the first date of each set recorded in the container list. This section of transcriptions covers January 1982 to April 2016, with gaps and overlaps. Some sections have several draft variations, while others only have one. The remaining transcriptions are collations of diary entries that only pertain to certain films. These have been arranged alphabetically by title.
	Drafts are the next step towards the memoir after diary transcriptions. Material in this section is written prose that doesn’t include diary entry dates. Entries consist of Bio, Early years, Chapters and parts, and Film reflections. Film reflections contain handwritten and typed drafts that were sorted by film subject. They are arranged alphabetically by title.
	Collated memoir materials are interview and recording transcripts, typed transcriptions of handwritten drafts, and clean copies of diary transcriptions for the years 1981-2002. For preservation purposes, these were removed from a 4.5” binder.
	Film files refer to materials focused on a specific film that were collated by Winkler. These files include research materials (often press or Wikipedia articles about the film), diary transcriptions with edits and notes by Winkler, and draft pages.
	Subseries C. Correspondence maintains Winkler's original file arrangement with his original folder titles listed alphabetically by correspondent surname, film title, or subject. The volume of correspondence within files varies, often with only one note or letter from correspondents, and the most voluminous with frequent collaborator Israel Horovitz. Correspondence may also be filed with produced and unproduced films in Series I. The largest case of this is correspondence from writer Sherley Anne Williams, which is arranged with scripts and production materials for Dessa Rose in the first series.
	Subseries D. contains awards and honors received by Winkler. Included are posters and ephemera for events in his honor, photographs of him receiving the Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, and a badge from the 1995 Deauville Film Festival, at which he was the first ever producer to be honored.
	The papers arrived with scripts for two films directed by Charles Winkler: Shackles (2005) and Rocky Marciano (1999). Irwin Winkler did not produce these films and is not credited as working on them. This material is arranged at the end of the container list under 'Winkler, Charles.'

For additional materials by or related to Irwin Winkler at the Harry Ransom Center, see the papers of Robert De Niro, Paul Schrader, and Clancy Sigal.

Moving Images include VHS tapes (46), Betacam SPs (7), DVDs (7), Digital Betacams (4), and Umatic (1) of interviews, tributes, television coverage, award shows, and master tapes of the Winkler Films logo. Also included is an electronic press kit for Home of the Brave, a scene reference tape for Guilty by Suspicion, one tape of dailies from De-Lovely, and De-Lovely-related coverage of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Some of this material was contaminated with mold and access is restricted.

	People
		Chartoff, Robert.
		Cocks, Jay, 1944-.
		Cowan, Rob (Producer).
		De Niro, Robert.
		Horovitz, Israel.
		McCormick, Nelson.
		Rauch, Earl Mac, 1949-.
		Rayfiel, David.
		Sigal, Clancy.
		Schrader, Paul, 1946-.
		Scorsese, Martin.
		Winkler, Charles (Charles David).
		Williams, Sherley Anne, 1944-1999.
	Organizations
		Chartoff-Winkler Productions.
		Winkler Films (Firm).
	Subjects
		Motion picture producers and directors.
		Motion pictures.
		Screenwriters.
	Places
		Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
		Los Angeles (Calif.).
	Document Types
		Call sheets.
		Clippings.
		Correspondence.
		Diaries.
		Ephemera.
		Film stills.
		Manuscripts.
		Moving images.
		Photographs.
		Posters.
		Screenplays.
		Scripts.
		Set design drawings.
		Storyboards.