Glen Trotiner, who served as first or second assistant director on movies such as The Untouchables, Independence Day, and Captain America: The First Avenger, died on June 16 in New York. He was 65.
Trotiner grew up in the Bronx and graduated from the DGA’s Training Program, after which he embarked on a long showbiz career as an assistant director and co-producer.
His first gig as an AD was on Brian De Palma‘s 1987 crime classic The Untouchables starring Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, and Sean Connery. He served as second AD on Awakenings and Independence Day before moving up to first AD on the HBO series Oz and the Adam Sandler comedy Big Daddy, the latter of which also featured him in an onscreen role.
Trotiner’s other notable credits include Maid in Manhattan, Reservation Road, Halloween II, and hit TV shows such as ER and Blue Bloods. More recently, he worked on Morbius, Gotham, and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle.
For more than 25 years, Trotiner held a seat on the DGA Training Program’s Board of Trustees, making him the longest-tenured board member. He also taught workshops at his alma mater SUNY Albany, which meant a lot to him even though he didn’t pursue a traditional career in teaching.
Trotiner worked on more than 100 movies and television shows during his four-decade career. He is survived by a sister and a niece, and there were no other details available regarding his passing, though a funeral was held on Monday in New Jersey. Trotiner’s family has asked that donations be made to blanketsofhope.com or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
