Michael Gruskoff, a renowned figure in the entertainment industry, began his career in 1958 at the William Morris mail room in New York.
By 1963, Michael had risen through the ranks to become an agent at Creative Management Associates (CMA) in Los Angeles, representing a plethora of illustrious talent including Peter Sellers, Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, Faye Dunaway, and Barbara Streisand.
Throughout his eight-year tenure at CMA, Michael packaged films for his Director/Producer clients, including Al Ruddy's Little Faus and Big Halsey, Sydney Pollack's Jeremiah Johnson & They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, John Boorman's Point Blank, Paul Mazursky's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Dennis Hopper's groundbreaking Easy Rider, and works from other clients such as Marvin Worth (Lenny, Malcolm X),Mary Rydell (The Reivers),Gillo Pontecorvo (Battle of Algiers).
Michael segued into producing with Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie, followed by the environmental sci-fi adventure Silent Running, written by Michael Cimino and Steven Bochco, and directed by Douglas Trumbull.
In 1974, he produced Mel Brooks' classic Young Frankenstein, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing comedies of the decade and one of the most beloved films of all time.
While entrenched at Fox, Michael produced Stanley Donen's Lucky Lady, starring Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds, and Liza Minelli.
He then went to Europe to produce Werner Herzog's remake of Nosferatu: The Vampyre, widely recognized as a cult classic.
Michael remained in Europe to make Jean-Jacques Annaud's Academy Award-nominated Quest for Fire, which went on to win the Cesar Award, the French academy award.
He returned to the U.S. and produced the Academy Award-nominated My Favorite Year, co-produced by Mel Brooks, which garnered Peter O' Toole a Best Actor nomination.
Over the next decade, Michael produced several films, including Burnin' Love, Clint Eastwood's Pink Cadillac, Article 99, Prelude to a Kiss, and Richard Marquand's Until September, and Overnight.
In 1999, Michael oversaw production on several films for Industry Entertainment, including Spike Lee's 25th Hour, 15 Minutes, Phillip Kaufman's Quills, and James Gray's The Yards.
He later joined Michael Douglas at the American Play Company as both a consultant and board member.
During his tenure, Michael established and instructed a class at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts that focused on developing classic stage plays into contemporary screenplays.
American Rights Management subsequently developed a number of plays from the program into TV and film projects.
In 2015, Michael Gruskoff served as a mentor for the Academy Spark youth program.
In 2016, Michael Gruskoff and Mel Brooks conceived a book, 'Young Frankenstein: The Story of the Making of the Film', with a foreword written by Judd Apatow.
