Irvin “Kersh” Kershner (born April 29, 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), is an American film director and occasional actor, best known for directing Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2.

Caption.

Kirshner began his film career at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema, teaching photography and taking cinema courses under Slavko Vorkapić, a montage artist and then dean of the School. Kershner then accepted a job as still photographer on a State Department film project in Iran under the Point Four Program, which ultimately led to an assignment as a director and cinematographer of documentaries in Iran, Greece and Turkey with the United States Information Service.

When he returned to the States, he and the late Paul Coates developed Confidential File, a documentary television series. Kershner worked as writer, director, cinematographer and editor. He later developed and directed the television series The Rebel.

He then moved on to feature films, some of the best known of which are: Hoodlum Priest, The Luck of Ginger Coffey, A Fine Madness, among others.