George Lefferts (born George Leffertz; June 18, 1921 – April 18, 2018) was an American writer, producer, playwright, poet, and director of television dramas, motion pictures, radio dramas, and socially conscious documentaries. His original plays and films for television won
Emmy Awards
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
three times and
Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
twice.
Biography and work
George Leffertz was born in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Eastside High School, where he worked on the school paper. During World War II, he served in He served in the United States Army Intelligence and Medical Corps, enlisting at the age of 20. He was a glider pilot and deep water sailor.
Lefferts worked as a columnist for ''
The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
'' and was twice winner of First Place, the New England Press Association Award for Best Weekly Newspaper Column in America (1983 and 1984).
Lefferts was executive producer and writer of the Smithsonian Institution Specials for
David Wolper
David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as ''Roots'', ''The Thorn Birds'', and ''North and South'', and the theatrically-released films ''L.A. Confident ...
Productions, executive producer for Time-Life, NBC, ABC and CBS, and a frequent writer of original scripts and short stories for the
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
X Minus One
''X Minus One'' is an American half-hour science fiction radio drama series that was broadcast from April 24, 1955, to January 9, 1958, in various timeslots on NBC. Known for high production values in adapting stories from the leading American a ...
''. He wrote and produced the anti-ageist film ''The Living End'', of which Variety wrote "the writing by George Lefferts was so pure it was well nigh perfect." With Alfred Hitchcock and William Shatner he created and wrote ''Tactic'' the first television program to openly deal with cancer. He also created, produced and wrote ''NBC Specials for Women'', a groundbreaking series for Women's Liberation featuring anthropologist Margaret Mead; the program won the Emmy Award (1967) and the Golden Globe Award (1968).
His original play ''The Loneliness of the Armadillo'' was presented by the Banyan Theater in Sarasota, Florida and two new plays ''The Boat'' and ''The Party Store'' were presented at the HBO Theater in New York in 2013.
Lefferts completed the script and lyrics of a full-scale opera ''The Amadou Cantata'', based on the infamous Amadou Diallo trial of four NYPD officers.
Lefferts also created and wrote the comedy series ''Rocky Fortune'' starring Frank Sinatra, and the NBC documentary ''Bravo, Picasso!'' featuring Pablo Picasso, Yves Montand, and Jacqueline Kennedy.
Lefferts was producer of the Emmy-winning daytime series, ''
Ryan's Hope
''Ryan's Hope'' is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975, to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in th ...
'' during its early weeks, and executive producer and writer of the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
medical drama
A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...
, '' Breaking Point'' which aired during the 1963–1964 television season. Episodes were directed by Sydney Pollack and featured Robert Redford, John Cassavetes, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and Lillian Gish.
Lefferts was co-creator and writer of ''Family Album, U.S.A.'', "a soap opera designed to teach English as a Second Language", distributed by Macmillan Publishers in 58 countries.
Lefferts taught screenwriting at Johns Hopkins and Rutgers Universities. He was a member of the American Medical Writers Association. As a writer and producer for The Network for Continuing Medical Education, he was credited for many "cutting-edge medical films," including ''Doctor Barnhard's Heart Transplant'' BC ''Pain–Where It Hurts Most'' BC ''What Price Health, with Senator Ted Kennedy'' BC and ''Acupuncture Anesthesia in Red China'' BC
George Lefferts died in