Bob Giraldi

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Bob Giraldi (born January 17, 1939) is a film and television director who is probably best known for directing the video for Michael Jackson's song "Beat It."

Giraldi was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to a working-class Italian-American family. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York on a basketball and baseball scholarship, graduating in 1960 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

He spent the next nine years as an art director and creative supervisor at the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, and, in 1965, he began teaching advertising at The School of Visual Arts in New York. He was soon appointed as the Head of the Department of Advertising and Design, and in 1968, was promoted to Assistant Director of the school.

In 1970, Giraldi became creative director of the advertising agency DellaFemina & Partners, and three years later formed his production company Giraldi Productions, which has to-date produced and directed close to 3000 commercials, music videos and short films.

His advertising campaigns include the Pepsi-Cola campaign with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, memorable for an incident in which Jackson’s hair caught on fire in an accident involving pyrotechnics on the set, and commercials for the Miller Brewing Company commercials that featured such celebrities as Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Uecker, Billy Martin, John Madden, Bubba Smith, Tommy Heinsohn, Mickey Spillane, Dick Butkus and Joe Piscopo. He was also responsible for commercials for the Broadway shows “A Chorus Line,” “Evita,” “Dream Girls,” “Sophisticated Ladies,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “The Full Monty.”

In 1983, Giraldi wrote and directed the music video “Beat It” starring Michael Jackson. Arguably Giraldi's best-known work, the video won an American Music Award, the Billboard Video Award, a 1984 People’s Choice Award, and is included in Rolling Stone’s top ten examples of video art at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Other famous videos followed. “Say, Say, Say,” with Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney won the 1984 Le Festival du Clip St. Tropez. “Love is a Battlefield,” with Pat Benatar won a 1984 MTV Award, and “Hello,” with Lionel Richie, won a 1985 American Music Award. Other notable music videos from the 1980s include: “Running with the Night” – Lionel Richie, “Pieces of Ice” – Diana Ross.

His feature film Dinner Rush appeared on a number of 2001’s Top 10 lists and was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films Series presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center at MoMA. This film clearly has had an influence on several present day reality restaurant series. Giraldi’s independent films have also garnered numerous awards and have found their way into collections as diverse as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Museum of Modern Art. He has been inducted into the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, one of the few film directors to be honored. His short film The Routine premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won Best Drama at the 6th Annual Los Angeles International Short Film Festival. Another short, My Hometown, is now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s permanent collection, and Dream Begins, an integral part of New York’s national Olympic bid, now resides with Museum of Modern Art Giraldi’s latest short film, Honey Trap starring Debbie Harry, won a Gold Remi Award at the 39th Annual WorldFest Houston and screened at Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, San Diego Film Festival, Raindance in the UK, and Hamptons International Film Festival.

Giraldi’s production company GIRALDI MEDIA is currently casting the feature film The Lion’s Share, written by playwright Tom Donaghy. This drama centers on a close-knit suburban community and the secrets of one family that are finally exposed. Steven Siebert and Patti Greaney are producers and Bob will direct.

GIRALDI has joined forces with prolific producer Edward R. Pressman to develop the romantic drama Isola Delle Femmine, which centers on the anticipated visit of Joe DiMaggio to the Italian birthplace of his parents and the enthusiastic director of tourism whom is determined to revive his village, but perhaps at the cost of the love of his life. Mr. Giraldi will also direct the movie.

Mr. Giraldi and Ms. Greaney are working with The School of Visual Arts to create THE SVA OUT of Hand Festival – an international competition for content created by students devoted to the new art & technology of wireless delivery systems.

Mr. Giraldi is also a member of the Executive Board of Hamptons International Film Festival, and he wrote and directed the official trailer that preceded every film at the festival in 2004 and 2005 and is creating a new animated trailer for 2007.

Giraldi partnered with Carlos “Hari” Sama’s Mexico City based Catatonia Films to create the multinational production/media company CATATONIA-GIRALDI, representing international directors for commercial and long form content. Katya Meyer is the company’s Managing Director in New York.

Though his experience in film and music videos is copious, his roots are in advertising. Giraldi, a New Yorker through and through, started his career as an art director/creative supervisor at Young & Rubicam. Eventually, he created his own production company and has since produced and directed numerous award-winning commercials – several London International Awards, Cannes Advertising Awards, NY International Awards, Addy Awards, Chicago Film Festival Awards and hundreds of Clio Awards have honored his commercial work. He has also been named one of the “101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.”

In 1995, Giraldi and Patti Greaney created the original website StarChefs.com featuring celebrity chefs and cookbook authors. StarChefs continues to be the foremost website used by professionals and food afficiandos. In addition to StarChefs, Giraldi has begun negotiations with several Japanese high profile corporations to create ChefRising.com, a new culinary, food-centric website in that country featuring the latest news and information about Japan’s emerging star chefs and food community.

In the early ‘90’s, hungry for something new, Giraldi threw his hat into the New York restaurant ring, opening Jo-Jo with Jean Georges Vongerichten. Giraldi then helped start the Jean-Georges 4-star namesake restaurant as well as Vong and its London and Hong Kong outposts. Giraldi was also involved in Patria, which received the New York Times 3 Stars. His Tuscan fare eatery BREADTribeca earned 2 Stars from The Times. Another establishment, Diablo Royale, has become a popular taqueria in the West Village and currently is in the process of expanding another location in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His restaurant credentials continue to grow with the October 2006 opening of The E.U., serving meals inspired by delicious and healthy casual fare from the mother countries of Europe.