Rodney Amateau (December 20, 1923 – June 29, 2003) was an American film and television screenwriter, director, and producer.

Career

Among the programs that he directed were ''

The Dennis Day Show ''The RCA Victor Show'' is a 1950s American television program broadcast on NBC that eventually became ''The Dennis Day Show''. It began on November 23, 1951, and ended on August 2, 1954. ''The RCA Victor Show'' With Ezio Pinza ''The RCA Victor ...

'', ''

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', sometimes called ''The Burns and Allen Show'', was a half-hour television situation comedy broadcast from 1950 to 1958 on CBS. It starred George Burns and Gracie Allen, one of the most enduring acts in ...

'', ''

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' (also known as simply ''Dobie Gillis'' or ''Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis'' in later seasons and in syndication) is an American sitcom starring Dwayne Hickman that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5, ...

'', ''

Mister Ed ''Mister Ed'' is an American television sitcom produced by Filmways that aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966. The show's title character is a talking horse which orig ...

'', ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...

'', ''

The Bob Cummings Show ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (also known in reruns as ''Love That Bob'') is an American sitcom starring Bob Cummings, which was broadcast from January 2, 1955, to September 15, 1959. The program began with a half-season run on NBC, then ran for two ...

'' and ''

The New Phil Silvers Show ''The New Phil Silvers Show'' is an American situation comedy television series starring Phil Silvers which centers around a factory foreman who is always involved in get-rich-quick schemes. Original episodes aired from September 28, 1963, until Ap ...

''. He produced ''

My Mother the Car ''My Mother the Car'' is an American fantasy comedy that aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965 and April 5, 1966. Thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television. The premise features a man whose deceased mothe ...

'' and ''

Supertrain ''Supertrain'' is an American science fiction-adventure-drama television series that ran on NBC from February 7 to May 5, 1979. Nine episodes were made, including a two-hour pilot episode. Premise The series takes place on the ''Supertrain'', a ...

'', and wrote the story for the 1988 film ''

Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

''. Amateau also directed a few episodes of ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy TV series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. The show aired for 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. It was consistently among the top-rated television series ...

'', and appeared in a handful of episodes as an actor as well. In 1987, he directed, produced and co-wrote ''

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie ''The Garbage Pail Kids Movie'' is a 1987 American comedy film and an adaptation of the then-popular children's trading cards series of the same name produced, directed, and co-written by Rod Amateau. It was the last film to be directed by Amatea ...

'', which is considered to be one of the worst films ever made.

Personal life

From 1945 to 1949, he was married to actress

Coleen Gray Coleen Gray (born Doris Bernice Jensen; October 23, 1922 – August 3, 2015) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles in the films '' Nightmare Alley'' (1947), '' Red River'' (1948), and Stanley Kubrick's '' The Killing'' ( ...

, who sued him for

child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...

in 1955. From 1959 to 1962, he was married to Sandra Burns, daughter of

George Burns George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...

and

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

.Sandra Burns profile
imdb.com; accessed April 6, 2017.

Retirement and death

Amateau retired from directing in 1989. He died from a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

in 2003 in Los Angeles, aged 79.

Filmography

Film

TV

References

External links

* 1923 births 2003 deaths American male screenwriters Film producers from New York (state) American television directors Television producers from New York City American television writers Film directors from New York City American male television writers Screenwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-film-director-1920s-stub