Posted on 03/18/2007 6:48:29 AM PDT by Borges
Stuart Rosenberg, a prolific director of episodic television who is best known for directing the 1967 film "Cool Hand Luke," has died. He was 79.
Rosenberg died Thursday of a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home, his son Benjamin said Saturday.
Rosenberg began directing television episodes in the 1950s for such dramatic series as "The Defenders," "The Untouchables," "Naked City," "The Twilight Zone" and "Bus Stop." He racked up more than 300 TV directing credits and won an Emmy Award in 1963 for an episode of "The Defenders." But after completing his first feature film — "Cool Hand Luke" — he never went back to the small screen.
A gritty, riveting tale about life on a chain gang, the film starred Paul Newman as a nonconformist who becomes a reluctant hero to his fellow inmates.
The film received four Academy Award nominations — though none for Rosenberg — with George Kennedy winning for best supporting actor. It also provided one of the most quoted lines of that film era, spoken by the camp's warden, played by Strother Martin: "What we've got here is failure to communicate."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Cool Hand Luke" was Rosenberg's masterpiece. He never seemed to achieve the greatness of his first film. His next two movies, "The April Fools" and "Move" were terrible.
"The Defenders" and "Naked City" were great TV shows.
Unfortunately, "The Defenders" isn't on DVD.
As a kid, I can remember when one of the The Defenders programs was about rape. The program ran, but was bumped to 10:30 P.M. so our young eyes and ears wouldn't be subjected to this "delicate" matter of an adult nature.
I was a kid, but I remember the program as a high intensity program, but extremly interesting.
I remember the opening of the defenders, the towering attorney with the smaller building in the background.
I believe it's how they see themselves.
I like your tag line!
It's a cleaned-up version of something I stole from Denis Leary. It used to be in all its glory until the mods took another look at it.
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