Laura Ziskin

Ziskin died Sunday of breast cancer at her home in Los Angeles, said a spokesman at Sony Pictures, where she had a producing deal and made many of her movies in recent years. Ziskin, who had fought a seven-year battle with the disease, also founded a nonprofit televised event, Stand Up to Cancer, that has raised more than $200 million for cancer research. Best known for producing all the films in the "Spider-Man" franchise — including the upcoming release "The Amazing Spider-Man" — Ziskin had a profound effect on what contemporary moviegoers watch. In nearly three decades as a producer and studio executive, she made or oversaw a wide range of films, including the 1987 Cold War thriller "No Way Out;" the 1990 Richard Gere-Julia Roberts romantic comedy "Pretty Woman;" and 1997's James L. Brooks' Oscar-contending dramedy "As Good As It Gets." Born March 3, 1950, in the San Fernando Valley to Mae Lee and Jay Ziskin, the latter a writer, Ziskin graduated from USC's School of Cinematic Arts in 1973. She began her Hollywood career as an assistant to Jon Peters, a veteran producer who would go on to head Sony Pictures. Ziskin was a creature of Hollywood; in addition to working on a wide range of movies, she married screenwriter Julian Barry, with whom she had a daughter, Julia. After the couple divorced, Ziskin became the life partner of Oscar-winning screenwriter Alvin Sargent. More than two decades her senior, Sargent was a veteran Hollywood hand, having written films such as 1966's "Gambit" and 1973's "Paper Moon"; he would also write a number of films Ziskin produced. Outside the film world, Ziskin was best known for her efforts in helping to found Stand Up to Cancer, a research initiative she founded with Katie Couric, former Paramount chief Sherry Lansing and others. The organization held a high-profile Hollywood telethon that drew on the star power of the media and entertainment world to raise money for cancer research.