Ronald B. Colby

Ronald Colby was born in Manhattan, New York to John Colby and Millicent Blakeslee. Both of Colby's parents were Vaudeville dancers. John also known as Jack Colby toured the country on the B.F. Keith Circuit, played the Palace in New York City and performed in W. C. Fields Ballyhoo on Broadway.[2] Colby joined the Air Force after finishing High school. He has two sons Trevor and Dylan Colby from his first marriage to Patricia Lee. Colby is recently widowed from his second wife production designer, film producer Patricia Van Ryker.[3][4] Ronald Colby earned a Bachelor's degree in theater from Hofstra University and a Master's Degree in theater from New York University

Early in Colby's career, Francis Ford Coppola recruited him into his company American Zoetrope[5][6] as production executive and producer. The films included, You're a Big Boy Now , Finian's Rainbow, THX-1138, The Rain People, The Godfather Part II, Hammett, the documentary on the making of Coppola, One from the Heart and The Outsiders.

Colby's extensive film credits also include John Hughes films, Some Kind of Wonderful and She's Having A Baby, Exorcist, Harvest of Fire and Esmeralda Santiago acclaimed memoir, Almost A Woman,[7] which won Peabody and Imagen Awards for best feature.[8]

Over the past decade Colby has directed a series of documentaries[9] including Pirate for the Sea, the film biography of Captain Paul Watson, the most controversial ocean environmental activist, ever. Pirate for the Sea[10] had its Premiere to great acclaim at The Telluride Film Festival.[11] Since then, it has won many "Best Documentary" awards[12] and ran on United Nations Conference on Climate Change. His third documentary the informative and whimsical, Scotland's Caddies,[13] is quickly becoming a favorite with both golfers and golf "watchers" alike. In 2018 Colby completed ByUs a powerful full-length documentary co-directed and produced with his late wife Patricia Van Ryker which explores the importance of small businesses to the American economy.[14] ByUs won best film for Economic Development Documentary[15] at the Bohemian Festival CG.

In 2018 Colby released his first novel "Night Driver" which was published by Rare Bird Books.[16]