Was given an inexpensive Kodak movie camera when he was 12, which spurred his imagination; liked to create and film train wrecks on his toy railroad
Directed a high-school production of Peter Pan
As an adult, he directed the lavish 1991 Peter Pan update, Hook, starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts
Wanted John Wayne to play Gen
Stilwell in 1941 (1979), but the Duke lost interest when he learned the film's story (about the hysteria that followed Pearl Harbor) included two American planes being shot down
(The part eventually went to Robert Stack
) Created the story for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with producer George Lucas and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan over five days
His own boyhood fears, including a tree outside his window, formed the basis of Poltergeist (1982), which he wrote and produced
Inspired by the experience of directing Schindler's List (1993), he created the Shoah Foundation to preserve an archive of eyewitness and survivor accounts of the Holocaust
Co-founded DreamWorks Studios with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen in 1994
Collaborated with Tom Hanks and produced HBO's award-winning WWII miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010)