His grandfather, Mikhail Salkind, was a pioneer of silent films and produced Joyless Street (1925), featuring then-relatively-unknown Greta Garbo in her first major role.
Afterwards, Mikhail, along with Ilya's own father, Alexander, joined their forces to supervise many successful films, from Abel Gance's Austerlitz (1960) to Orson Welles' The Trial (1962).
[1] Ilya and Alexander, along with producing partner Pierre Spengler, purchased the film rights to the Superman property in August 1974.
[3] At this point in time Muhammad Ali, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, James Caan, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen were being considered for the leading role of Superman.
Friedkin turned down the offer outright, while Peckinpah dropped out of the running when he produced a gun during a meeting with Salkind.
Although Puzo did impress him with certain aspects, Salkind felt the script remained intact with being overall campy, as did Guy Hamilton.
[3] By this time, Puzo felt he "could do all he could," turning in two drafts,[2] and David Newman and Robert Benton were hired for rewrite work, as a means to delete objectionable material concerning an excessive amount of comedic scenes.
Paul Newman was offered all three roles of Superman, Jor-El and Lex Luthor to his choosing though he did not accept any of them, for a salary of $4 million.
Impressed by the producers' ability to cast famous actors in respective roles, Warner Bros. decided to distribute the film internationally, rather than simply domestically.
Brando however, could not go to Rome as there was still a warrant out for his arrest due to the sexual obscenity of his role in Last Tango in Paris.
It was decided to move the production to England but Hamilton himself was a tax exile from his native country, which only allowed him to spend 60 days or less a year.
[5] The Salkinds returned to the Superman mythology again in 1988, this time as a TV series, with Superboy, starring John Haymes Newton in the title role during its first year, Gerard Christopher as the Boy of Steel for the remainder of the show's existence, and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, lasted four seasons, running for 100 episodes.
Returning to Los Angeles in 2003, the producer launched the Ilya Salkind Company in the late summer of that year.
Salkind, who was born in Mexico City, traveled south of the border to handle a family property owned by his mother, who died a few years earlier.