Majoring in film at UCLA, Penelope Spheeris launched her career by producing short subjects for satirist Albert Brooks, many of which were highlights of "Saturday Night Live's" first season. When Brooks stepped up to feature films with Real Life (1978), Spheeris stayed on as his producer. Her first "auteur" feature project was The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), a punk-rock documentary that she wrote, produced, and directed. After several years' work in documentaries of a doggedly non-comic (and unappealing) nature, Spheeris returned to laughmaking with Wayne's World, which became one of 1992's biggest hits. Spheeris would remain a comedy director, though her subsequent features varied wildly in quality. 1993's The Beverly Hillbillies opened strong, but was killed by word-of-mouth, while 1994's The Little Rascals managed to convey much of the sweetness and innocence of the old Hal Roach two-reelers of the 1930s -- albeit with the requisite 1990's feminist slant.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
Participant |
2011 | |||
|
Balls to the Wall
Director |
2010 | |||
|
The Kid & I
Actor, Director, Producer |
2005 | |||
|
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
Interviewee |
2004 | |||
|
Hollywood High
Participant |
2003 | |||
| 2003 | ||||
|
We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'N' Roll
Cinematographer, Director |
2001 | |||
|
Senseless
Director |
1998 | |||
| 1998 | ||||
|
Black Sheep
Director |
1996 | |||
|
The Little Rascals
Director, Screenwriter |
1994 | |||
|
The Beverly Hillbillies
Director, Producer |
1993 | |||
|
Wayne's World
Director |
1992 | |||
|
Prison Stories: Women on the Inside
Director |
1991 | |||
|
Roseanne: Fender Bender
Screenwriter |
1990 | |||
|
Thunder and Mud
Director |
1989 | |||
|
Wedding Band
Actor |
1989 | |||
| 1988 | ||||
|
Dudes
Director |
1987 | |||
|
Hollywood Vice Squad
Director |
1986 | |||
|
Summer Camp Nightmare
Screenwriter |
1986 | |||
|
The Boys Next Door
Director |
1985 | |||
|
Suburbia
Director, Screenwriter |
1983 | |||
|
The Decline of Western Civilization
Director, Producer, Screenwriter |
1981 | |||
|
Real Life
Producer |
1979 | |||
|
Genesis 4
Director |
1971 | |||
|
Naked Angels
Actor |
1969 |

