A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Birthplace:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Born:
September 20, 1925
Died:
November 12, 2009
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Paul Wendkos (September 20, 1922; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 12, 2009; Malibu, California) was an American television and film director. Following wartime service in the US Navy and attending Columbia University on the GI Bill Wendkos made his first feature, a documentary on a school for the blind called Dark Interlude in 1953. Wendkos's first feature film was The Burglar . Wendkos's fluid camera technique caught the attention of the head of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn who not only wished to distribute the film, but put Wendkos on a contract. A variety of films followed for Columbia beginning with the hard-hitting crime drama The Case Against Brooklyn, two suspenseful war dramas Tarawa Beachhead and Battle of the Coral Sea, the youth-oriented Gidget and two sequels Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Gidget Goes to Rome as well as Because They're Young. Wendkos also directed many episodes of Playhouse 90, Alcoa Theatre, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Route 66, The Rifleman, Mr. Novak, Honey West, The Big Valley, I Spy, The Invaders and Hawaii Five-O. With I Spy, Wendkos filmed several interesting episodes but was deemed too "arty" by the producers and let go. In 1968 Wendkos signed a five picture contract with Mirisch Productions beginning with the war films Attack on the Iron Coast and Hell Boats followed by Westerns set in Mexico but filmed in SpainGuns of the Magnificent Seven and Cannon for Cordoba. He also made the first feature film for Quinn Martin, The Mephisto Waltz. From 1970 until his retirement in 1999, Wendkos specialized in made-for-television movies. One of these was The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988), based on a TWA hijacking in 1985, picked up five Emmy nominations, including one for Wendkos. Wendkos was cited by film critic Andrew Sarris in his book The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968. He is also cited, along with many other directors, in The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television by Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahimagi, Talisman Books (England), 1979, and E.P. Dutton (United States), 1979; Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 79-52675. Wendkos married Ruth Bernat on March 1, 1953 and had one son, Jordan Elkan Wendkos. Ruth died in June, 1978. Wendkos married Lin Bolen, Former NBC VP & Producer in 1983 and they lived together happily in Malibu, California until his death. He is survived by his son, Jordan, granddaughter, Justine Wendkos, and his wife Lin Bolen Wendkos. Wendkos was ill for several years following a stroke. He died on November 12, 2009 in Malibu, California. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Wendkos, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Director:
1957 The Burglar
1958 Bitter Heritage
1958 Tarawa Beachhead
1958 The Case Against Brooklyn
1959 Battle of the Coral Sea
1959 Face of a Fugitive
1959 Gidget
1960 Because They're Young
1961 Angel Baby
1961 Five Fingers : The Temple of the Swinging Doll
1961 Gidget Goes Hawaiian
1963 Gidget Goes to Rome
1966 Johnny Tiger
1968 Attack on the Iron Coast
1968 Cocoon
1969 Fear No Evil
1969 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1970 Cannon for Cordoba
1970 Hell Boats
1970 The Brotherhood of the Bell
1971 A Death of Innocence
1971 A Little Game
1971 A Tattered Web
1971 The Mephisto Waltz
1971 Travis Logan, D.A.
1972 Footsteps
1972 Haunts of the Very Rich
1972 The Delphi Bureau
1972 The Family Rico
1972 The Strangers in 7A
1972 The Woman I Love
1973 Honor Thy Father
1973 Terror on the Beach
1974 The Underground Man
1975 Death Among Friends
1975 The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1976 Special Delivery
1977 Good Against Evil
1977 Secrets
1977 The Death of Richie
1978 Betrayal
1979 Act of Violence
1979 The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
1980 A Cry for Love
1980 The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1981 Golden Gate
1981 The Five of Me
1982 Farrell: For the People
1983 Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
1983 Intimate Agony
1983 The Awakening of Candra
1984 Scorned and Swindled
1985 Picking Up the Pieces
1985 The Bad Seed
1985 The Execution
1986 Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife
1987 Right to Die
1987 Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies
1987 Six Against the Rock
1988 The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story
1989 From the Dead of Night
1990 The Cops Are Robbers
1991 Guilty Until Proven Innocent
1991 The Chase
1991 White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
1992 Trial: The Price of Passion
1993 Bloodlines: Murder in the Family
1993 Message from Nam
1997 A Match Made in Heaven
1998 A Wing and a Prayer
1998 Nobody Lives Forever
1999 Different
Editor:
1957 The Burglar
1958 Bitter Heritage
1958 Tarawa Beachhead
1958 The Case Against Brooklyn
1959 Battle of the Coral Sea
1959 Face of a Fugitive
1959 Gidget
1960 Because They're Young
1961 Angel Baby
1961 Five Fingers : The Temple of the Swinging Doll
1961 Gidget Goes Hawaiian
1963 Gidget Goes to Rome
1966 Johnny Tiger
1968 Attack on the Iron Coast
1968 Cocoon
1969 Fear No Evil
1969 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1970 Cannon for Cordoba
1970 Hell Boats
1970 The Brotherhood of the Bell
1971 A Death of Innocence
1971 A Little Game
1971 A Tattered Web
1971 The Mephisto Waltz
1971 Travis Logan, D.A.
1972 Footsteps
1972 Haunts of the Very Rich
1972 The Delphi Bureau
1972 The Family Rico
1972 The Strangers in 7A
1972 The Woman I Love
1973 Honor Thy Father
1973 Terror on the Beach
1974 The Underground Man
1975 Death Among Friends
1975 The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1976 Special Delivery
1977 Good Against Evil
1977 Secrets
1977 The Death of Richie
1978 Betrayal
1979 Act of Violence
1979 The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
1980 A Cry for Love
1980 The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1981 Golden Gate
1981 The Five of Me
1982 Farrell: For the People
1983 Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
1983 Intimate Agony
1983 The Awakening of Candra
1984 Scorned and Swindled
1985 Picking Up the Pieces
1985 The Bad Seed
1985 The Execution
1986 Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife
1987 Right to Die
1987 Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies
1987 Six Against the Rock
1988 The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story
1989 From the Dead of Night
1990 The Cops Are Robbers
1991 Guilty Until Proven Innocent
1991 The Chase
1991 White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
1992 Trial: The Price of Passion
1993 Bloodlines: Murder in the Family
1993 Message from Nam
1997 A Match Made in Heaven
1998 A Wing and a Prayer
1998 Nobody Lives Forever
1999 Different
Producer:
1957 The Burglar
1958 Bitter Heritage
1958 Tarawa Beachhead
1958 The Case Against Brooklyn
1959 Battle of the Coral Sea
1959 Face of a Fugitive
1959 Gidget
1960 Because They're Young
1961 Angel Baby
1961 Five Fingers : The Temple of the Swinging Doll
1961 Gidget Goes Hawaiian
1963 Gidget Goes to Rome
1966 Johnny Tiger
1968 Attack on the Iron Coast
1968 Cocoon
1969 Fear No Evil
1969 Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1970 Cannon for Cordoba
1970 Hell Boats
1970 The Brotherhood of the Bell
1971 A Death of Innocence
1971 A Little Game
1971 A Tattered Web
1971 The Mephisto Waltz
1971 Travis Logan, D.A.
1972 Footsteps
1972 Haunts of the Very Rich
1972 The Delphi Bureau
1972 The Family Rico
1972 The Strangers in 7A
1972 The Woman I Love
1973 Honor Thy Father
1973 Terror on the Beach
1974 The Underground Man
1975 Death Among Friends
1975 The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1976 Special Delivery
1976 Stalk the Wild Child
1977 Good Against Evil
1977 Secrets
1977 The Death of Richie
1978 Betrayal
1979 Act of Violence
1979 The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
1980 A Cry for Love
1980 The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1981 Golden Gate
1981 The Five of Me
1982 Farrell: For the People
1983 Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
1983 Intimate Agony
1983 The Awakening of Candra
1984 Scorned and Swindled
1985 Picking Up the Pieces
1985 The Bad Seed
1985 The Execution
1986 Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife
1987 Right to Die
1987 Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies
1987 Six Against the Rock
1988 The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story
1989 From the Dead of Night
1990 The Cops Are Robbers
1991 Guilty Until Proven Innocent
1991 The Chase
1991 White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
1992 Trial: The Price of Passion
1993 Bloodlines: Murder in the Family
1993 Message from Nam
1997 A Match Made in Heaven
1998 A Wing and a Prayer
1998 Nobody Lives Forever
1999 Different
Creator:
1990 Blind Faith
Director:
1958 Behind Closed Doors
1959 Law of the Plainsman
1962 The Eleventh Hour
1965 Honey West
1967 The Invaders
1973 Hawkins
1977 79 Park Avenue
1978 A Woman Called Moses
1984 Celebrity
1986 Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1988 The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1989 Cross of Fire
1990 Blind Faith
Producer:
1958 Behind Closed Doors
1959 Law of the Plainsman
1962 The Eleventh Hour
1965 Honey West
1967 The Invaders
1973 Hawkins
1977 79 Park Avenue
1978 A Woman Called Moses
1984 Celebrity
1986 Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1988 The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1989 Cross of Fire
1990 Blind Faith
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.