Obituary: Hollywood Researcher Richard Del Belso

Hollywood movie research veteran Richard Del Belso has died at the age of 76, after a year-long battle with lung cancer.

Born in Albany, New York in 1939, Del Belso (pictured) attended Vincentian Institute, and then earned a BA from Fordham University and a Master's degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University School of Arts and Entertainment. After graduating in the early 1970s, Del Belso began his career at ad agency Benton & Bowles in New York, before moving to Grey Advertising.

In 1976, he relocated to Los Angeles to take up the position of Research Director at Universal Pictures, and during his time with the studio, he worked on Oscar Best Picture contender Coal Miner's Daughter, and Best Picture winner The Deer Hunter. While at Universal Pictures, Del Belso worked alongside Joe Farrell and Catherine Paura's National Research Group (NRG), to develop new ways of applying existing research methodologies to the movie industry. This included developing techniques such as test screenings, seasonal preferences by audience, socio-demographics analyses, and weekend tracking studies to predict opening-weekend box office numbers.

Del Belso was hired as VP Market Research at Warner Bros four years later, and subsequently promoted to the position of Senior VP Market Research and Strategy Development at Warner Bros Pictures. He spent 25 years at the firm, conducting test screenings and other audience research for movies including four Academy Award Best Pictures - Chariots Of Fire, Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, and Million Dollar Baby - as well as the franchises of Mad Max, Harry Potter, Batman, Superman, Lethal Weapon, and The Matrix. Warner Bros. Chairman Bob Daly, commented: 'Richard was the best research guy I've ever come across. He was smart and thorough; he spoke his mind, and he was right 90% of the time. He was also just a really good person. He certainly will be missed'.

Del Belso's life will be celebrated on March 23rd at Hollywood Forever cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in his name to the Washington Humane Society (support.washhumane.org ), The American Film Institute (afi.com/membership ), and The American Cancer Society (donate.cancer.org ).

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.