Eric Garcetti · CC BY 2.0

With brothers David and Jerry Zucker, wrote and directed Airplane! (1980) — a screenplay that earned him a BAFTA nomination — and later The Naked Gun film series, reshaping American film comedy around rapid-fire parody and sight gags that are still widely imitated. He went on to direct Hot Shots! and Hot Shots! Part Deux solo, and later co-founded the Charlie Foundation to advance ketogenic-diet treatment for pediatric epilepsy.