The Omen

The Omen is a 1976 American-British supernatural horror-drama film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. The film stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Spencer Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern. The first installment in The Omen series, the film centres a young child adopted as an infant by American Ambassador Robert Thorn unbeknownst to his wife, after their own son dies at birth. Surrounded by mysterious ominous deaths, they are unaware that the child is the Antichrist.

Released theatrically by 20th Century Fox in June 1976, The Omen received acclaim from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $60 million at the box office and becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1976. The film earned two Academy Award nominations, both won and nominated for Best Original Score in regards to Jerry Goldsmith's score; the only Oscar he has received for. The film appeared at #16 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Later the film spawned a franchise, starting with the first sequel, released two years after its predecessor.

1976

1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (dominical letter DC) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1976th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1970s decade.

Events

January

Omen

An omen (also called portent or presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. People in the ancient times believed that omens lie with a divine message from their gods.

These omens include natural phenomena for example an eclipse, freak births of animals and humans and behavior of the sacrificial lamb on its way to the slaughter. They had specialists, the diviners, to interpret these omens. They would also use an artificial method, for example, a clay model of a sheep liver, to communicate with their gods in times of crisis. They would expect a binary answer, either yes or no answer, favorable or unfavorable. They did these to predict what would happen in the future and to take action to avoid disaster.

Though the word "omen" is usually devoid of reference to the change's nature, hence being possibly either "good" or "bad," the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous". The origin of the word is unknown, although it may be connected with the Latin word audire, meaning "to hear."

Gregory Peck

Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor who was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck continued to play major film roles until the late 1970s. His performance as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. He had also been nominated for an Oscar for the same category for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Other notable films he appeared in include Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Roman Holiday (1953), Moby Dick (1956) (and its 1998 miniseries of the same name), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Cape Fear (1962) (and its 1991 remake of the same name), How the West Was Won (1962), The Omen (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978).

President Lyndon Johnson honored Peck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 for his lifetime humanitarian efforts. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck among Greatest Male Stars of Classic Hollywood cinema, ranking at No. 12. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1983.

Richard Donner

Richard Donner (born April 24, 1930) is an American film director and producer. After directing the horror film The Omen (1976), Donner became famous for directing the first modern superhero film, Superman (1978), starring Christopher Reeve.

Donner later went on to direct such films as The Goonies (1985) and Scrooged (1988), while reinvigorating the buddy film genre with Lethal Weapon (1987) and its sequels. He and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, own the production company The Donners' Company, which is most well known for producing the X-Men film series. In 2000, he received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Film historian Michael Barson writes that Donner is "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters".

Early years

Donner was born Richard Donald Schwartzberg in the Bronx to Jewish parents, Hattie and Fred Schwartzberg. His father owned a small furniture manufacturing business. He has a sister, Joan. Donner started his career with hopes of acting but quickly moved into directing commercials and making business films. He moved into television in the late 1950s, directing some episodes of the Steve McQueen western serial Wanted: Dead or Alive and the Chuck Connors western The Rifleman.