Gale Anne Hurd

Gale Anne Hurd (born October 25, 1955) is an American film and television producer, the founder of Valhalla Entertainment (formerly Pacific Western Productions), and a former recording secretary for the Producers Guild of America. Early life Hurd was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Lolita (née Espiau) and Frank E. Hurd, an investor. Her father was Jewish, and her mother was Catholic. She grew up in Palm Springs, California and graduated from Palm Springs High School in 1973. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in economics and communications, and a minor in political science, in 1977. Film career She joined New World Pictures as executive assistant to Roger Corman, the company president. She worked her way up through various administrative positions and eventually became involved in production. She formed her own production company, Pacific Western Productions, in 1982 and went on to produce a number of box-office hits including the James Cameron films The Terminator (1984, the screenplay for which she co-wrote with Cameron, her sole screenwriting credit), Aliens (1986), and The Abyss (1989).