Leonard Solomon “Len” Blum, (born 1951) is an award winning Canadian screenwriter, film producer and film composer. He graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975^[1] and wrote many films including Meatballs, Stripes, Heavy Metal, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Meatballs III: Summer Job, Feds, Beethoven's 2nd, Howard Stern's Private Parts, The Pink Panther and Over the Hedge. Prior to his film career, he was a songwriter and produced radio commercials. He won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay, in 1980, for the film Meatballs.^[2]

He also attended Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario. He has been married to Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum since 1970 with whom he has one child.

Filmography[link]

• Meatballs (with Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis) (1979)
• Stripes (with Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis) (1981)
• Heavy Metal (with Dan Goldberg) (1981)
• Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (with Dan Goldberg) (1983)
• Feds (with Dan Goldberg) (1988)
• Beethoven's 2nd (1993)
• Dream Tower (with Ron Mann and Bill Schroeder) (1994)
• Private Parts (1997)
• The Pink Panther (with Steve Martin and Michael Saltzman) (2006)
• Over the Hedge (with Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick) (2006)

References[link]

1. ^ "McMaster Alumni Association". http://www.mcmaster.ca/ua/alumni/gallery/G99003.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-22. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Len Blum at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article related to film in Canada is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Leonard Victor (Len) Waters
Len Waters, c. 1944-45
Born	20 June 1924 Boomi, New South Wales
Died	24 August 1993(1993-08-24) (aged 69) Cunnamulla, Queensland
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Years of service	1942–1946
Rank	Warrant Officer
Unit	No. 78 Squadron
Battles/wars	World War II
Other work	Shearer

Leonard Victor (Len) Waters (20 June 1924 – 24 August 1993) was the first Australian Aboriginal military aviator, and the only one to serve as a fighter pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II.^[1][2] Aboriginal people at the time suffered significant discrimination and disadvantages in Australian society, such as restrictions on movement, residence, employment, and access to services and citizenship. Born in northern New South Wales and raised in Queensland, Waters was working as a shearer when he joined the RAAF in 1942. Training initially as a mechanic, he volunteered for flying duties and graduated as a Sergeant Pilot in 1944. He flew P-40 Kittyhawks in the South West Pacific theatre, where he completed 95 missions, mainly close air support. By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Warrant Officer. Following his discharge from the RAAF in 1946, he attempted to start a regional airline but was unable to secure financial backing and government approval. He went back to shearing, and died in 1993 at the age of 69.

Early life[link]

The fourth of 11 children to Donald and Grace Waters (née Bennett), Len Waters was born at Euraba Mission, near Boomi in northern New South Wales on 20 June 1924. He grew up at Nindigully, near St George, Queensland, and was educated to the seventh grade at Nindigilly State School.^[3][4] Hearing tales of pioneering aviators Charles Kingsford Smith, Amy Johnson, Bert Hinkler and Charles Lindbergh, and reading stories of Biggles, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers, he had, as he put it, his "head in the clouds" from an early age.^[3][5] Waters left school when he was 14 to support his family, working alongside his father as a ring barker. He was paid 10 shillings per week, for a seven-day week,^[1] less than one-sixth of the average wage at the time.^[6] In 1939, he began working as a shearer.^[1]