Dan Curtis

Creator·Aug 12, 1927·Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

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Daniel Mayer Cherkoss (August 12, 1927 – March 27, 2006), known by his pen name Dan Curtis, was an American director and producer of television and film, best known for creating the horror soap Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows ran from 1966 to 1971 for a record-setting 1,225 episodes. Curtis also produced the 1991 revival, which was canceled after twelve episodes due to low ratings. He also served as executive producer for a WB reboot; however, it was canceled before the pilot episode aired. His series of macabre films include The Night Stalker (which inspired the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker), Intruders, The Night Strangler, House of Dark Shadows, Night of Dark Shadows, Burnt Offerings, Trilogy of Terror, The Norliss Tapes (a 1973 pilot for an unproduced series starring Roy Thinnes), Curse of the Black Widow, Dead of Night, Scream of the Wolf, and others. He worked frequently with sci-fi/horror writer Richard Matheson. Curtis was producer and/or director of a number of television adaptations of horror-related productions including Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Turn of the Screw, all made between 1968 and 1975. In 1978, Curtis made a departure from his usual macabre offerings, when he wrote, produced, and directed the sentimental NBC television film When Every Day Was the Fourth of July. Although fictionalized, the film was semi-autobiographical, based on his childhood growing up in 1930s Bridgeport. The film was originally intended to be a pilot for a potential series, but when the series was not picked up by NBC, Curtis made a sequel, The Long Days of Summer, this time airing on ABC. In 1983, Curtis directed the epic seven-part miniseries The Winds of War, based on Herman Wouk's 1971 novel of the same name about the lives of the fictional Henry and Jastrow families as they intersect with the major global events of the early years of World War II. It won three Primetime Emmys (of 13 nominations) and was nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Miniseries or Television Film. The success spawned a 1988 sequel miniseries, War and Remembrance, also based on a novel by Wouk. Curtis died of a brain tumor in his home on March 27, 2006, two weeks after the death of his wife Norma. Curtis' rights to Dark Shadows remain with his estate, who have signed a deal with Warner Bros. for a new Dark Shadows film, which released in March 2012 to mixed reviews. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dan Curtis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Film	Credit
Our Fathers2005 · Director	Director
Saving Milly2005 · Director	Director
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust2004 · Self	Self
The Love Letter1998 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Trilogy of Terror II1996 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Me and the Kid1993 · Director	Director
St. John in Exile1986 · Director	Director
The Long Days of Summer1980 · Director	Director
The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang1979 · Director	Director
Mrs. R's Daughter1979 · Director	Director
Express to Terror1979 · Director	Director
When Every Day Was the Fourth of July1978 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Curse of the Black Widow1977 · Director	Director
Dead of Night1977 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Burnt Offerings1976 · Director, Producer, Screenplay	Director, Producer, Screenplay
The Kansas City Massacre1975 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Trilogy of Terror1975 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Melvin Purvis G-Man1975 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Great Ice Rip-Off1974 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Dracula1974 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Turn of the Screw1974 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Invasion of Carol Enders1974 · Producer, Director	Producer, Director
Scream of the Wolf1974 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Picture of Dorian Gray1973 · Producer	Producer
The Norliss Tapes1973 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Frankenstein1973 · Screenplay, Producer	Screenplay, Producer
The Night Strangler1973 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Night Stalker1972 · Producer	Producer
Night of Dark Shadows1971 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
House of Dark Shadows1970 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Dead of Night: A Darkness at Blaisedon1969 · Writer, Producer	Writer, Producer
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde1968 · Producer	Producer
TThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde1967 · Producer	Producer