F. Daniel Somrack is a boxing historian who authored his first book for Arcadia Publishing called Boxing in San Francisco. It examines the Golden Age of professional boxing on the Barbary Coast between 1890-1914. His subsequent titles include The Eddie Futch Interview, Jack Dempsey “Nonpareil,” Pancho Villa: The Filipino Legend, Kid Gavilan: The Cuban Hawk, The Great Benny Leonard: Jewish Legend of Boxing, Cuban Legends of Boxing and The Great Salvador Sanchez.
Somrack recently developed Havana Royale, an original series about the glamorous, pre-revolution era in Cuba. Previously he served as Supervising Producer on the feature film project Bodyshot starring Robert Patrick and Michelle Johnson.
As Vice President of Development for ION Pictures, Somrack broke new ground as an independent Producer with the acquisition of Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers, King’s first original screenplay. The Columbia Pictures release opened number-one at the U.S. box office.
Also for ION Pictures, Somrack served as Supervising Producer on The Closer starring Danny Aiello and Justine Bateman. Other film credits include Executive Producer on Dragonfight and Associate Producer on the satirical horror film Slaughterhouse Rock that won the Silver Scroll Award.
As member of the International Documentary Association, Somrack produced two documentaries on the fight game. The highly acclaimed Champions Forever highlighted the careers of heavyweight boxing legends Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes. During the 1990s, Billboard Magazine listed Champions Forever as the highest-selling, original sports video of all time. He followed that production with Latin Legends of Boxing that featured boxing legends Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello and Kid Gavilan.
In addition to his film work, Somrack has produced two of David Mamet’s classic stage plays at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles. The award-winning American Buffalo starred Gabe Kaplan (Welcome Back Kotter) and Nicholas Celozzi (Kickboxer) and Lakeboat starred Ed O’Neill (Married…with Children ), George Wendt (Cheers) and was directed by Hollywood film actor Joe Mantegna. Lakeboat’s sold-out performances set an attendance record for Los Angeles Equity Wavier Theater.
As a freelance journalist, Somrack penned several profile stories about his travels in Cuba. Hemingway’s Captain, Reeling in the Years with Papa Hemingway and Teofilo Stevenson: The Cuban Legend were featured in national and international publication around the world.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Dan Somrack attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Fairmount School of the Creative and Performing Arts where he studied piano, music theory and drama. Listed in Who’s Who in America, Somrack is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild and The Authors Guild. He sits on the Board of Directors of the non-profit, Henry Armstrong Foundation that works with underprivileged children in and around the Los Angeles area. In his free time, Dan has finished several marathons including the Los Angeles, Long Beach, New York City and also holds a 2nd. Degree Black Belt (Nidan) in Isshin Ryu Karate.