Philip Anschutz AKA Philip Frederick Anschutz Born: 28-Dec-1939 Birthplace: Great Bend, KS
Gender: Male Religion: Presbyterian [1] Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Business Party Affiliation: Republican Nationality: United States Executive summary: Qwest billionaire Net worth $5B, but may have been as high as $18B at the height of the bubble. His fortune started when, as a wildcatter, he hit a large oil deposit in Gillette, Wyoming. Unfortunately, it caught fire. Universal was then filming a biopic on Red Adair, and he convinced the company to pay $100,000 for the privilege of putting out his fire. Another wildcat find in Utah -- one billion barrels -- put him and his father in the $500M bracket. This money he invested in railroads, and out of their cross-country rights-of-way he formed Qwest Communications.
Since then, Anschutz has pulled back from Qwest, and he is presently investing in entertainment ventures. He owns a handful of American professional soccer teams, the San Francisco Examiner (though now a mere shell of what the great paper once was), and most importantly, is now dabbling in moralistic filmmaking. He made Holes which quickly grossed $67M, and Because of Winn-Dixie, which grossed over $30M. A Sound of Thunder bucked this trend, making only $6M despite a budget some ten times that. Additionally he purchased the rights to C. S. Lewis' highly-allegoric Narnia works, and has great hopes for the first film from that series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which will be made with Disney's help. None of these films receive "R" ratings, and some of them have strong religious undertones. Anschutz thinks this is exactly what the "red states" want right now.
[1] Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Father: Fred "Fritz" Anschutz Mother: Marian Pfister Anschutz Sister: Sue Anschutz-Rogers (older) Wife: Nancy (two daughters, one son) Son: Christian Anschutz
High School: (Wichita, KS) University: BS Economics, University of Kansas, Lawrence (1961) Law School: University of Virginia Law School (dropped out)
Qwest Founder (1996-2010)
Union Pacific Vice Chairman
Member of the Board of Union Pacific (1996-2006)
Member of the Board of Southern Pacific (1988-96, as Chairman, -1996)
Member of the Board of Qwest (as Chairman, 1993-2002)
Academy of Achievement Patron American Petroleum Institute Board of Directors Americans for Truth in Politics America's Foundation Bush-Quayle '92 Discovery Institute Elizabeth Dole Committee Elizabeth Dole for President Ensign for Senate Friends of Senator D'Amato 1998 Committee George W. Bush for President Kennedy Center Trustee Emeritus McCain 2000 McCain for Senate '98 National Petroleum Council National Republican Senatorial Committee Pete Coors for Senate Reagan-Bush '84 Romney for President Santorum 2006 The Western Way PAC American Museum of Natural History Honorary trustee
Appears in articles:
The Atlantic, May-2005, DETAILS: The Apocalypse, Rated PG, BYLINE: Ross Douthat
The New York Times, 22-Apr-2007, DETAILS: Goal! He Spends It on Beckham: Phil Anschutz Bets on Star Power, and Everything Else, BYLINE: Graham Bowley
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