Abraham Paul Wendkos (September 20, 1925 – November 12, 2009) was an American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and film director.

Early life and education

Wendkos was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

to parents Simon Wendkos and Judith Wendkos. Wendkos served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and went to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. Paul made his first feature, a documentary on a school for the blind called ''Dark Interlude'' in 1953.

Career

Columbia Pictures

Wendkos' first feature film was '' The Burglar''. His fluid camera technique caught the attention of the head of

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, Harry Cohn, who not only wished to distribute the film but put Wendkos under contract. Wendkos directed episodes of '' Playhouse 90'' then did '' The Case Against Brooklyn'' (1958) for producer Charles Schneer at Columbia. He directed a TV movie for Columbia about Jesse James, '' Bitter Heritage'' (1958) and episodes of '' Behind Closed Doors'' (1958). Wendkos directed another for Schneer, the war movie ''

Tarawa Beachhead ''Tarawa Beachhead'' is a 1958 war film directed by Paul Wendkos. It stars Columbia Pictures contract star Kerwin Mathews in his first leading role and the husband and wife team of Ray Danton and Julie Adams. The working title of the film was ''F ...

'' (1958). He had a massive hit with the teen film ''

Gidget Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenaged daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenaged girl and her surfing fri ...

'' (1959) starring

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingén ...

, Cliff Robertson and James Darren. ''

Face of a Fugitive ''Face of a Fugitive'' is a 1959 American Western film directed by Paul Wendkos. It stars Fred MacMurray, Lin McCarthy, Myrna Fahey, James Coburn and Dorothy Green and was based on the short story "Long Gone" by Peter Dawson, the pen name of Jo ...

'' (1959) was a Western for Schneer, and '' Battle of the Coral Sea'' (1959) was a war movie with Robertson. Wendkos went back to TV for '' Five Fingers'', ''

Tightrope Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

'', ''

Law of the Plainsman ''Law of the Plainsman'' is a Western (genre), Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on NBC from October 1, 1959, until September 22, 1960. The character of Native Americans in the United States, Native American United St ...

'', ''

Alcoa Theatre ''Alcoa Theatre'' is a half-hour American anthology series telecast on NBC at 9:30 pm on Monday nights from September 30, 1957 to May 23, 1960. The program also aired under the title ''Turn of Fate''. ''Alcoa Theatre'' was syndicated together ...

'', ''

Two Faces West ''Two Faces West'' is an American syndicated TV series set in the Wild West running from October 1960 to July 1961 for a total of 39 half-hour episodes (one per week on a continuous run). It was produced by Donald Gold and Jonas Seinfeld and M ...

'', and '' Route 66''. He returned to Columbia for two youth movies with Darren and Michael Callan, '' Because They're Young'' (1960) and ''

Gidget Goes Hawaiian ''Gidget Goes Hawaiian'' is a 1961 American romantic comedy musical film starring James Darren, Michael Callan and Deborah Walley. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film is a sequel to the 1959 Sandra Dee beach film vehicle ''Gidget''. Dee was ...

'' (1961). He did a drama, '' Angel Baby'' (1961) with George Hamilton, then made ''

Gidget Goes to Rome ''Gidget Goes to Rome'' is a 1963 Columbia Pictures Eastmancolor feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally portrayed by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film ''Gidget''. The film is the third of three Gidge ...

'' (1962). Wendkos later directed episodes of ''

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 ...

'', ''

Dr. Kildare Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...

'', ''

The Rifleman ''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show ...

'', '' Mr. Novak'', ''

Honey West Honey West is a fictional character created by the husband and wife writing team Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling", and appearing in eleven mystery novels by the duo. The character is notable as being one of the firs ...

'', '' The Big Valley'', ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

'', and ''

The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...

''. He also directed the pilot for the original ''

Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...

''. When Wendkos worked on ''I Spy'', he was dismissed from the production when the producers deemed the episodes he had filmed to have been too "arty". In 1968 Wendkos signed a five-picture contract with

Mirisch Productions The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures Inc., Miris ...

, beginning with the war films ''

Attack on the Iron Coast ''Attack on the Iron Coast'' is a 1967 DeLuxe Color Anglo-American Oakmont Productions international co-production war film directed by Paul Wendkos in the first of his five-picture contract with Mirisch Productions, and starring Lloyd Bridges, ...

'' and '' Hell Boats'', followed by two westerns set in Mexico (but filmed in Spain), '' Guns of the Magnificent Seven'' and ''

Cannon for Cordoba ''Cannon for Cordoba'' is a 1970 American Western film. Filmed in Spain, the larger part of the movie takes place in Mexico in 1912. Directed by Paul Wendkos, it stars George Peppard, Pete Duel, Giovanna Ralli, and Raf Vallone, and features a m ...

''. He also made the first and only feature film for

Quinn Martin Quinn Martin (born Irwin Martin Cohn; May 22, 1922 – September 5, 1987) was an American television producer. He had at least one television series running in prime time every year for 21 straight years (from 1959 to 1980). Martin is a mem ...

, ''

The Mephisto Waltz ''The Mephisto Waltz'' is a 1971 American horror film about an occult-murder mystery. It was directed by Paul Wendkos and starred Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Bradford Dillman and Curd Jürgens. The name of the film is taken fr ...

''.

Later career

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. It picked up five Emmy nominations, including one for Wendkos. He also directed 90-minute episodes of the James Stewart legal drama and murder mystery series '' Hawkins'', which aired on an every-third-week basis as part of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

wheel series A wheel series, wheel show, wheel format or umbrella series is a television series in which two or more regular programs are rotated in the same time slot. Sometimes the wheel series is given its own umbrella title and promoted as a single unit ins ...

" '' The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies''.

Personal life

Wendkos married Ruth Bernat on March 1, 1953, and had one son, Jordan Elkan Wendkos. Ruth died in June 1978. In 1984, Wendkos married

Lin Bolen Lin Bolen (March 21, 1941 – January 19, 2018) was an American television executive and producer. She was most noted for her role at NBC daytime television programming as the first female vice president of a TV network, a position she held from ...

, former NBC VP and producer; they lived in Malibu,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, until his death. Wendkos was ill for several years following a stroke. He died on November 12, 2009, in Malibu.Frank Swertlow
''The Wrap'' —'Gidget' Director Paul Wendkos Dies
(Retrieved 2009-11-13) He was survived by his son, Jordan, granddaughter, Justine Wendkos, and his wife, Lin Bolen Wendkos.

References

Additional sources

* ''The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968'', by

Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katav ...

* ''The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television'' by Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahimagi (Talisman Books (England) / E.P. Dutton (United States), 1979) *

External links

*
Moviefone (brief bio)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendkos, Paul 1925 births 2009 deaths Artists from Philadelphia Military personnel from Philadelphia Columbia University alumni United States Navy sailors United States Navy personnel of World War II Film directors from Los Angeles