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Daniel Petrie

Daniel Petrieb. November 26, 1920, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; d. August 22, 2004, Los Angeles, California


After serving in Canada’s armed forces during World War II, Daniel Petrie studied communications at St. Francis-Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. While in New York earning his Master’s degree at Columbia University, he scored a role in the Broadway production of Kiss Them for Me. He followed this with a role in I Remember Mama, which went on tour and closed in Chicago, where Petrie enrolled in doctoral studies at Northwestern University.

He was hired as a director by NBC-TV in 1950 and spent much of the decade directing various television series. He followed his first two feature films, the Richard Burton vehicles Wuthering Heights (1958) and The Bramble Bush (1959), with his acclaimed screen adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun (1961), which launched Sidney Poitier’s career and won a special award at the Festival de Cannes. That same year, his version of Frank Gilroy’s play Who’ll Save the Plowboy won the Obie Award for best play.

Petrie continued to direct for both film and television, though he typically enjoyed more success on the small screen. His other best known films include Resurrection (1980), Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981) and his labour of love, The Bay Boy (1984), a multiple Genie Award-winning film that starred a young Keifer Sutherland in a semi-autobiographical story about growing up in Cape Breton.

Petrie’s more notable TV movies include the Emmy-winning The Dollmaker (1984) with Jane Fonda and My Name Is Bill W. (1989) with James Woods and James Garner. Petrie won four Director’s Guild of America Awards and two Emmy Awards, and also served in a number of leadership positions with the Director’s Guild of America.
By Andrew McIntosh

Film and video work includes

Hallmark Hall of Fame series, 1951 (director; TV, one episode)
The Revlon Mirror Theatre series, 1953 (director; TV)
The United States Steel Hour series, 1953 (director; TV, one episode)
The Elgin Hour series, 1954 (director; TV, one episode)
The Expendable House, The Alcoa Hour series, 1955 (director; TV, one episode)
Joe & Mabel series, 1955 (director; TV)
The Stingiest Man in Town, 1956 (director; TV)
The Prince and the Pauper, The DuPont Show of the Month series, 1957 (director; TV)
Pursuit series, 1958 (director; TV, one episode)
Wuthering Heights, 1958 (director)
The Cherry Orchard, a.k.a. The Play of the Week: The Cherry Orchard, 1959 (director; TV)
Oliver Twist, 1959 (director; TV)
The Bramble Bush, 1959 (director)
Treasure Island, 1960 (director; TV)
The Defenders series, 1961 (director; TV, one episode)
Great Ghost Tales series, 1961 (director; TV, one episode)
A Raisin in the Sun, 1961 (director)
Way Out series, 1961 (director; TV, one episode)
The Nurses series, 1962 (director; TV, one episode)
The Main Attraction, 1962 (director)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre series, 1963 (director; TV, one episode)
East Side/West Side series, 1963 (director; TV)
Stolen Hours, a.k.a. Summer Flight, 1963 (director)
Profiles in Courage series, 1964 (director; TV, one episode)
Seaway series, 1964 (director; TV)
The Idol, 1966 (director)
The Spy with a Cold Nose, 1966 (director)
Ironside series, a.k.a. The Raymond Burr show, 1967 (director; TV, one episode)
The Name of the Game series, 1968 (director; TV)
Strange Report series, 1969 (director; TV, two episodes)
Marcus Welby, M.D. series, 1969 (director; TV, 1 episode)
Medical Center series, 1969 (director; TV, one episode)
Silent Night, Lonely Night, 1969 (director; TV)
Big Fish, Little Fish, 1971 (director; TV)
The City, 1971 (director; TV)
A Howling in the Woods, 1971 (director; TV)
McMillan and Wife: Husbands, Wives and Killers, 1971 (director; TV)
McMillan and Wife series, a.k.a. McMillan, 1971 (director; TV)
Banyon series, 1972 (director; TV)
Hec Ramsey, a.k.a. The Century Turns, 1972 (director; TV)
Hec Ramsey series, 1972 (director; TV, one episode)
Moon of the Wolf, 1972 (director; TV)
The Neptune Factor, a.k.a. The Neptune Disaster, 1973 (director)
Trouble Comes to Town, 1973 (director; TV)
Buster and Billie, 1974 (director)
The Gun and the Pulpit, 1974 (director; TV)
Mousey, a.k.a. Cat and Mouse, 1974 (director; TV)
Returning Home, 1975 (director; TV)
Eleanor and Franklin, 1976 (director; TV)
Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking, 1976 (director; TV)
Lifeguard, 1976 (director)
Sybil, 1976 (director; TV)
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, 1977 (director; TV)
The Quinns, 1977 (director; TV)
The Betsy, a.k.a. Harold Robbins’ The Betsy, 1978 (director)
Resurrection, 1980 (director)
Fort Apache the Bronx, 1981 (director)
Six Pack, 1982 (director; actor, uncredited)
The Bay Boy, 1984 (director; writer)
The Dollmaker, 1984 (director; TV)
The Execution of Raymond Graham, 1985 (director; TV)
Into the Night, 1985 (actor)
Half a Lifetime, 1986 (director; TV)
Square Dance, a.k.a. Home is Where the Heart Is, 1987 (director; producer)
Cocoon: The Return, a.k.a. Cocoon II: The Return 1988 (director)
Rocket Gibraltar, 1988 (director)
My Name is Bill W., 1989 (director; producer; TV)
The Hidden Room series, 1991 (director; TV, one episode)
Mark Twain and Me, 1991 (director; producer; TV)
A Town Torn Apart, a.k.a. Doc: The Dennis Littky Story, 1992 (director; producer; TV)
Lassie, 1994 (director)
The Story of Lassie, 1994 (himself; TV)
Kissinger and Nixon, 1995 (director; TV)
Calm at Sunset, a.k.a. Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn, 1996 (director; producer; TV)
The Assistant, 1997 (director; writer; producer)
Monday After the Miracle, 1998 (director; TV)
Inherit the Wind, 1999 (director; TV)
Intimate Portrait: Pam Grier, 1999 (himself; TV)
Seasons of Love series, 1999 (director; TV)
Walter and Henry, 2001 (director; TV)
Wild Iris, 2001 (director; TV)

Note: Updated to June 30, 2005


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