The American director, screenwriter, and producer John Russell Langley is best known for creating and serving as executive producer of the Fox television series Cops. As a producer of several two-hour event specials in syndicated television markets throughout the 1980s, he was one of the forerunners of reality television. Since Cops debuted in 1989, Langley has frequently been referred to as the “Godfather of Reality Television.”
John Langley Biography and Net Worth
| Net Worth $200 million |
| Full Name John Russell Langley |
| Birth Date June 1, 1943 |
| Died June 26, 2021 |
| Birthplace Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Profession Film & TV director, Writer, TV producer |
| Wife Maggie Langley |
John Langley Early Life
He was born in Oklahoma City in June 1943, but when he was a young child, his family relocated to Manhattan Beach, California. He served in the intelligence division of the US Army from 1961 and 1963. In 1971, he graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills with a Bachelor of Arts in English. His next academic achievement was a master’s in literature and composition. Langley temporarily took part in the University of California, Irvine’s doctor of philosophy program.
John Langley Career Beginnings
Before collaborating with colleague producer Malcolm Barbour to create the documentary “Cocaine Blues” early in his TV career, John worked as a publicist. Geraldo Rivera was drawn to Cocaine Blues, and in 1986 he collaborated with Langley and Barbour to create a program called American Vice: The Doping of a Nation. This program was groundbreaking since it was the first to ever broadcast three drug arrests live on television. Due to the success of the show, a new TV genre was created, Malcolm Barbour, a co-creator with Langley.
John Langley Success
Stephen Chao, a young development executive, was looking for inexpensive programs to air on the fledgling Fox Television Network in 1987. That made COPS, which didn’t need a single actor or writer from a union, very enticing. Chao noticed the potential hit as soon as he saw the COPS pilot. It has been syndicated on numerous networks all around the world. The program was originally canceled by Fox in 2013, but Spike TV swiftly renewed it.
Fox and Langley Productions have made hundreds of millions of dollars from COPS DVD sales. Together with his son Morgan, Langley also created the television series Inside American Jail for TruTV. Brooklyn’s Finest, directed by Antoine Fuqua, and shown in January 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival, was produced by Langley. Langley was also in charge of the concurrently airing series Cops, Jail, Las Vegas Jailhouse, Street Patrol, and Vegas Strip during the 2010–2011 television season.
John Langley Wife
He got married to businesswoman, Maggie Langley in 1971, and the two were blessed with a son Morgan and two daughters.
Net Worth
John Langley had an estimated net worth of $200 million at the time of his death. In Manhattan Beach, California, Langley and his wife of more than 40 years, Maggie, own multiple properties. They spent $400,000 on a coastal house in 1994. They paid $4.9 million for another Manhattan Beach house in October 2018.
Death
John Langley passed away on June 26, 2021, while taking part in a coast-to-coast off-road race in Baja California, Mexico, due to a heart attack.
