Matthew Rapf (October 22, 1920 – December 11, 1991) was an American film and television producer and screenwriter. He was best known for producing ''

The Loretta Young Show ''The Loretta Young Show'' (originally known as ''Letter to Loretta'') is an American anthology drama television series broadcast on Sunday nights from September 2, 1953, to June 4, 1961, on NBC for a total of 165 episodes. The series was hosted ...

'', ''

Ben Casey ''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaff ...

'', and ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theodopolis "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular ''Cannon'' series, ...

''.

Biography

Matthew Rapf was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on October 22, 1920, the son of

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

film producer

Harry Rapf Harry Rapf (16 October 1880, in New York City – 6 February 1949, in Los Angeles), was an American film producer. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Rapf began his career in 1917, and during a 20-year career became a well-known producer of ...

. His brother

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

was a screenwriter ( blacklisted in the 1940s) and film professor. After graduating from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1942, he served as a

lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), ...

in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Returning to civilian life, he followed in his father's and brother's footsteps into filmmaking and was hired by MGM to be part of a production group headed by Charles Schnee. His first credit was for writing and producing the 1948 Western ''

Adventures of Gallant Bess ''Adventures of Gallant Bess'' is a 1948 American contemporary Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Cameron Mitchell, Audrey Long, Fuzzy Knight, James Millican, and John Harmon. It was filmed in Cinecolor. It has no connection ...

''. In 1952 he wrote and produced the noir film '' The Sellout''. After this he worked primarily as a producer, on films such as '' Big Leaguer'' and ''

Half a Hero ''Half a Hero'' is a 1953 American comedy film starring Red Skelton and Jean Hagen. Directed by Don Weis, the film was written by Max Shulman and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot Freelance writer Ben Dobson (Skelton) lands his first full-ti ...

''. Rapf next moved into television, signing a long-term contract with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1955, and producing series for them such as ''

The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built a ...

'', '' Frontier'', ''

Jefferson Drum ''Jefferson Drum'', also known as ''The Pen and the Quill'', is an American Western television series starring Jeff Richards that aired on the NBC network from April 25 to December 11, 1958. Overview Jefferson Drum, portrayed by Jeff Richards, i ...

'', and ''

''. In 1973 he produced the TV film ''

The Marcus-Nelson Murders This is a list of episodes for the television series '' Kojak''. The first five seasons ( Pilot + 118 ep.) were aired on CBS from 1973 until 1978. CBS also commissioned a pair of TV movies in 1985 and 1987. ABC revived ''Kojak'' in 1989 for five ...

'', starring

Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...

as police lieutenant Theo Kojak. Though not originally intended as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, it became the basis of one of Rapf's most successful series, ''

''. He would be nominated for three Emmy Awards for his work on the film and show. He was married to prominent real estate agent Carol Rapf. Matthew Rapf died in Malibu on December 11, 1991, after a bout of influenza.

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapf, Matthew 1920 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American naval officers American male screenwriters United States Navy personnel of World War II Dartmouth College alumni Deaths from influenza Film producers from New York (state) Screenwriters from New York (state) Television producers from New York City Writers from New York City 20th-century American screenwriters