4 min read
Daniel "Danny" Goldberg (March 7, 1949, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - July 12, 2023, Los Angeles, California) was a Canadian film producer and screenwriter whose career spanned four decades.1 He is best known for co-writing the Bill Murray comedies Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981) with Ivan Reitman, and for producing all three films in the Hangover franchise (2009-2013).2 In the Ghostbusters universe, he served as an executive producer on Extreme Ghostbusters (1997).3
Join the community
Free accounts post in the forum, upload to the gallery, edit the wiki, and follow your favorite franchises. No credit card. No catch.
Daniel Goldberg was born on March 7, 1949, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His father, Irwin, was an aeronautical engineer, and his mother, Audrey, was an artist.4 He had a younger brother, Harris Goldberg, who would later become a screenwriter, along with sisters Kathy and Amy.4
Goldberg enrolled at McMaster University in Hamilton, where in 1966 he met a fellow student named Ivan Reitman.1 The two discovered a shared passion for film and began collaborating almost immediately, laying the foundation for a partnership that would last more than thirty years.
Goldberg's first screen credit came as a performer: he appeared as a freshman in Reitman's short film Orientation (1968), which was theatrically distributed by Fox as a supporting feature before John and Mary (1969).1 The two went on to produce Cannibal Girls (1973), a Canadian independent horror-comedy filmed largely through improvisation. Goldberg served as co-writer, producer, and editor on the picture.
Their first major mainstream breakthrough came with Meatballs (1979), a summer-camp comedy that launched Bill Murray's film career. Goldberg co-wrote the screenplay alongside Len Blum, Janis Allen, and Harold Ramis, with Reitman directing.3 The film was a significant box-office success on a modest budget and established both men as forces in comedy filmmaking.1
Goldberg followed that success by co-writing Stripes (1981), again with Blum and Ramis, another Bill Murray vehicle directed by Reitman.2 That same year he received a writing credit on the animated anthology film Heavy Metal (1981), co-written with Len Blum.2
Through the 1980s and 1990s Goldberg transitioned further toward producing. He directed Feds (1988), a comedy starring Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross.4 He then produced a string of studio comedies in close collaboration with Reitman: Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Six Days Seven Nights (1998), and Evolution (2001).2 He also produced Howard Stern's semi-autobiographical Private Parts (1997) and the blockbuster sports film Space Jam (1996).2
In 1996, Goldberg served as co-executive producer on HBO's television film The Late Shift, a behind-the-scenes drama about the late-night television wars between Jay Leno and David Letterman. The project earned him an Emmy Award nomination.2
Beginning with Road Trip (2000), Goldberg formed a second major producing partnership with director Todd Phillips.4 The collaboration produced Old School (2003) and EuroTrip (2004), and culminated in the Hangover trilogy: The Hangover (2009), The Hangover Part II (2011), and The Hangover Part III (2013). The three films collectively grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, making them among the most commercially successful R-rated comedy franchise in film history at the time.4
Goldberg served as an executive producer on Extreme Ghostbusters, the 1997 animated series that continued the story of Egon Spengler and a new generation of Ghostbusters. The series ran for 40 episodes in syndication.2 His involvement came through his ongoing professional relationship with Ivan Reitman, who maintained a producing connection to the Ghostbusters animated properties throughout the 1990s.
Goldberg was married to Ilona Herzberg, a fellow Canadian film producer from British Columbia.4 Herzberg is known for her producing credits on The River Wild (1994), Waterworld (1995), and Evan Almighty (2007).
His brother Harris Goldberg became a screenwriter, known for co-writing Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) and Without a Paddle (2004). Harris described Daniel as "a gentle, lovely guy... he was my hero. He was everything I measured myself against."4
Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman and director of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), remembered Goldberg as "one of the kindest and most gentle souls" he had encountered in the film industry, noting that Goldberg had read every script Reitman wrote and always provided encouragement and thoughtful feedback.5
Daniel Goldberg died on July 12, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. He was 74 years old. No cause of death was publicly disclosed.2 He is survived by his wife Ilona Herzberg and his siblings.4
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
"Daniel Goldberg (producer)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Goldberg_(producer). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Deadline Hollywood, "Daniel Goldberg Dies: 'The Hangover' Trilogy Producer, 'Late Shift' Emmy Nominee & 'Stripes' Co-Writer Was 74" (July 13, 2023), https://deadline.com/2023/07/daniel-goldberg-dead-the-hangover-producer-late-shift-emmy-nominee-1235436510/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
Ghostbusters News, "Producer Daniel Goldberg, longtime collaborator of director Ivan Reitman, has passed away" (July 13, 2023), https://ghostbustersnews.com/2023/07/13/producer-daniel-goldberg-longtime-collaborator-of-director-ivan-reitman-has-passed-away/. ↩ ↩2
The Hollywood Reporter, "Daniel Goldberg Dead: 'Space Jam,' 'Hangover' Producer Was 74" (July 13, 2023), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/daniel-goldberg-dead-space-jam-hangover-old-school-1235535404/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
Deadline Hollywood, "Jason Reitman Remembers Daniel Goldberg: 'One Of The Kindest, Most Gentle Souls'" (July 13, 2023), https://deadline.com/2023/07/daniel-goldberg-jason-reitman-appreciation-the-hangover-stripes-1235436581/. ↩
