Lee Robert Bobker (July 19, 1925 – December 28, 1999) was an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, film director and producer, primarily known for his

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

s.Wolfgang Saxon
"Lee Robert Bobker, 74, Filmmaker Who Also Taught and Wrote About His Craft"
''The New York Times'' (January 30, 2000). Retrieved March 14, 2011 He was nominated for three

Academy Awards 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 one

Emmy 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 ...

Life and career

Bobker was born in

Belle Harbor Belle Harbor is a small residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, located on the western half of the Rockaway Peninsula, the southernmost area of the borough. Belle Harbor commonly refers to the area from Beach 126th to Be ...

, in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

. He began to work as a director and producer of documentary films in the late 1950s. He made a film for the

Peabody Coal Company Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...

that was "an apology for coal mining" and directed '' All the Way Home - 1957'', a 1957 film written by

Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913 – February 12, 1980) was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. Kenneth Rexroth said that she was the greatest poet of her "e ...

about the community reaction when a white homeowner in an all-white area decides to sell his house to a black family. In 1958, he made the documentary, ''

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'', which was nominated for an

Academy Award for Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. They have since been best ...

in 1958. In 1966, he made '' The Odds Against'' about the

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with Helen Kristt Radin. It was 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 ...

in 1966 for an

Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

.''The Odds Against''
''The New York Times''. Retrieved March 14, 2011 His film '' The Revolving Door'' was nominated in 1968 for best documentary

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

. Bobker's '' The First Amendment'', produced for the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

, was about

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

. Bobker's

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television series ''I, Leonardo'', which starred

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flori ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

, was nominated for an Emmy award. Chandler Knowles and Radin were co-producers with Bobker on the 1983 series. In the early 1990s, Bobker began working in

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

and made the documentary ''

Isaac Stern Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...

, a Life'', which was critically acclaimed. Bobker won acclaim at both national and international film festivals, collecting hundreds of awards. Bobker wrote two textbooks about filmmaking and aesthetics and contributed to professional periodicals, as well as other publications. Mr. Bobker is survived by his wife, Kate Gene Russell; two daughters, Gene Spieler, and Laurie Mahler; a son, Dr. Daniel Bobker; and seven grandchildren, including Matthew Spieler, Susanna Spieler, Kayla Mahler, Adam Mahler, Alissa Mahler, Hannah Bobker, and Andrew Bobker. His wife Kate is the sister of stock analyst Richard Russell.

Publications

* Lee R. Bobker, ''Elements of Film'' (1971) * Lee R. Bobker, ''Making Movies: From Script to Screen'' (1973)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobker, Lee Robert Film producers from New York (state) American documentary filmmakers Mass media people from Queens, New York 1925 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople