'Halloween' Writer-Producer Dies at 54

Debra Hill, who co-wrote the horror classic "Halloween" and rose
through Hollywood's ranks to become a pioneering woman producer, died
Monday, according to a family friend. She was 54.

Hill had battled cancer for 13 months, but until her final days had
been working on several projects, including a film about the last two
men pulled from the rubble of the Twin Towers following the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks, said friend Barbara Ligeti.

"She changed the face of women in film. If you talk to people who are
real players in this town, they will say Debra was one woman who
would help other women ... with boundless generosity," Ligeti said.

Hill's big break came in horror films when she and director John
Carpenter co-wrote the genre's modern classic, "Halloween."

The 1979 film, also directed by Carpenter and produced by Hill,
starred a 20-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis (news) as the baby sitter
terrorized by a murderous psychopath. Made on a modest $300,000
budget, it grossed $60 million worldwide, a record for an independent
movie at the time, and launched a seemingly endless chain of sequels.

Carpenter said Monday that working with Hill was one of the "greatest
experiences of my life."

"The ground that she trailblazed in the beginning can now be followed
by anyone. She was incredibly capable and incredibly talented,"
Carpenter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Hill, Carpenter and Curtis returned for "Halloween II," and Hill and
Carpenter were involved in the writing of several later sequels,
including "Halloween: Resurrection," "Halloween 5" and "Halloween:
The Curse of Michael Myers." A "Halloween 9," also written by Hill
and Carpenter, is reported by the Internet Movie Database to be in
production.

After her "Halloween" run, Hill joined her friend Lynda Obst in
forming an independent production company in 1986 that
made "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Heartbreak Hotel," both
directed by Chris Columbus, and Terry Gilliam's "The Fisher King"
with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges.

In 1988 she entered a contract with Walt Disney Pictures under which
she produced the feature "Gross Anatomy," short films for the Walt
Disney theme park and an NBC special for Disneyland's 35th
anniversary.

Films she produced included "The Dead Zone," 1983; "Head Office,"
1985; and "Clue," 1986.

"Back when I started in 1974, there were very few women in the
industry, and everybody called me 'Honey,'" she recalled in 2003. "I
was assumed to be the makeup and hair person, or the script person. I
was never assumed to be the writer or producer. I took a look around
and realized there weren't many women, so I had to carve a niche for
myself."

Carpenter praised her as "a real pioneer in this business."

"Unlike many producers, she came from the crew ranks. I think they're
the most under-appreciated people, and they work the hardest," he
said. "She had experienced the ins and the outs and had a thorough
understanding of what it took to make a picture."

Hill began as a production assistant on adventure documentaries,
working up to films as a script supervisor, a job that required
sitting beside the director and keeping a record of each scene.

From there she landed jobs as assistant director and second-unit
director and became associated with Carpenter, who was then a rising
young director.

The two also collaborated on 1980's "The Fog" and 1981's "Escape From
New York."

When she was honored by Women in Film in 2003, Hill said, "I hope
some day there won't be a need for Women in Film. That it will be
People in Film. That it will be equal pay, equal rights and equal job
opportunities for everybody."

Born in Haddonfield, N.J., Hill grew up in Philadelphia.