Phil Alden Robinson

For Phil Alden Robinson, 1984 was a turning point in his career. The Long Island native had toiled for almost a decade, first as an on-air newscaster and later making educational and industrial films as well as commercials before he broke into the Hollywood mainstream with a pair of comic features, the box-office hit "All of Me" and the less than stellar pairing of Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone in "Rhinestone." According to the screenwriter, the experience of making the former was a rare case where the author was welcomed (undoubtedly in part because director Carl Reiner and star Steve Martin both had writing credits).