Irwin Rosten
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Irwin Rosten (September 10, 1924 – May 23, 2010) was an American
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
maker who also produced several hour-long documentaries for television. He is best known for his 1975 film '' The Incredible Machine''. He was twice nominated for an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and won an Emmy Award for the documentary ''Mysteries of the Mind''. Rosten was born on September 10, 1924, in Brooklyn. He began his career as a documentary filmmaker during the 1950s with the DuMont Television Network, where he was manager of news and public affairs. He moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 1954, where he produced the 1958 documentary ''Thou Shalt Not Kill'' for station KNXT about
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. He was hired by KTLA in 1956, where his documentaries included the 1963 ''Splt Image'' about internal television programming produced by patients at
Camarillo State Mental Hospital Camarillo State Mental Hospital, also known as Camarillo State Hospital, was a public psychiatric hospital for patients with both developmental disabilities and mental illness in Camarillo, California. The hospital was in operation from 1936 to ...
. At KTLA, Rosten produced a higholy-regarded half-hour series of commentaries by Bill Stout on topics in the news. The series was titled "Line of Sight." During the 1960s, he made independent documentaries for the Wolper Organization and at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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 ...
. He produced a number of one-hour nature and wildlife television specials for '' National Geographic'', the last of which he produced in 1991.Koppel, Niko
"Irwin Rosten, Nature Documentary Filmmaker, Dies at 85"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', June 3, 2010. Accessed June 5, 2010.
Rosten co-wrote the film narration (alongside James Dugan) for ''Conshelf Adventure'' (1966), the first film in the documentary TV series ''
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau ''The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau'' is an American documentary television series about underwater marine life, directed by Alan Landsburg and hosted by French filmmaker, researcher, and marine explorer Jacques Cousteau. The first episod ...
'', featuring Jacques Cousteau,
Philippe Cousteau Philippe Pierre Cousteau (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979) was a French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in oceanography. He was the second son of ...
, André Laban, Jacques Rollet, Christian Bonnici, Raymond Coll and Yves Omer. In addition to his collaboration with the Cousteau Team, Rosten produced such films as '' The Wolf Men'', his 1969 film about the hunting of timberwolves, and ''The Incredible Machine'' (1975), both of which received nominations for the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...
. His 1974 film '' Birds Do It, Bees Do It'' was screened at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. He earned Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award and
Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility T ...
. ''The Incredible Machine'', which included some of the first pictures taken inside the human body and presented on film, ranked as the most-watched program in Public Broadcasting Service until 1982. Rosten died at age 85 in his Hollywood home on May 23, 2010, due to
vascular disease Vascular disease is a class of diseases of the blood vessels – the arteries and veins of the circulatory system of the body. Vascular disease is a subgroup of cardiovascular disease. Disorders in this vast network of blood vessels can cause ...
.Nelson, Valerie J
Irwin Rosten dies at 85; award-winning documentary filmmaker
''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', May 30, 2010. Accessed June 5, 2010.
Emmy-winning documentarian Irwin Rosten Dies
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences press release dated May 27, 201. Accessed June 5, 2010.
He was survived by his wife, Marilyn Ryan, as well as by a son, Peter


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosten, Irwin 1924 births 2010 deaths Film producers from California American male screenwriters Filmmakers from Brooklyn Film directors from New York City Film directors from Los Angeles Screenwriters from New York (state) Film producers from New York (state) Screenwriters from California