Jake Eberts Movies and Career Information

Jake Eberts, OC (born July 10, 1941) is a movie producer, executive and financier. Known for risk-taking and producing a consistently high caliber of movies including such award-winning titles as Chariots of Fire (1981, uncredited), Gandhi (1982), Dances with Wolves (1990), and the successful animated feature Chicken Run (2000). Born John David Eberts in Montreal, Quebec, Jake Eberts grew up in Montreal and Arvida. He attended Bishop's College School in Lennoxville, Quebec and graduated from McGill University (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering 1962) and Harvard Business School (MBA 1966). Eberts' working career began as a start-up engineer for L'Air Liquide in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. He then spent three years as a Wall Street investor. He moved to London, England in 1971, where he joined Oppenheimer & Co., rising to the position of managing director of the UK brokerage and investment company in 1976. With no apparent prior interest in film, about 1977 he turned to film financing, and joined David Puttnam in founding Goldcrest Films, an independent film production company, for which he served as president and CEO. His first venture was the animated movie Watership