Barry Shear (March 23, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York – June 13, 1979 in Los Angeles) was an American film and television director and producer.

Career

Military

He served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

from October 1942 to March 1945.

Television career

Shear began directing for television in the 1950s for the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...

news program '' Newsweek Views the News'', and directed episodes of the DuMont series '' Guide Right'', '' Not for Publication'', and '' Joseph Schildkraut Presents''. Shear directed ''The Hazel Scott Show'' for DuMont, the first television show to feature a Black woman as the star of a show, performing without sketch comedy or guests. He quickly moved to episodic television. Over his 30-year career in television he directed both series and

telefilms A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terres ...

. Series that he directed several episodes for include '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'', '' The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.'', '' The Name of the Game'', '' Ironside'', '' Alias Smith and Jones'', '' Police Story'', '' Police Woman'', and '' The Feather and Father Gang''.

Film career

Shear's first made-for-theaters feature was the 1968 counter culture film '' Wild in the Streets''. He later directed theatrical films in various genres such as '' The Todd Killings'' in 1971 (based on the serial killer Charles Schmid), '' Across 110th Street'' in 1972, and the western '' The Deadly Trackers'' in 1973 (which he overtook from Samuel Fuller). While well received, these features met with only fair box office and Shear returned to work exclusively in television. On August 5, 1965, both Shear and Jan Berry, of the singing duo

Jan and Dean Jan and Dean were an American rock music, rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf m ...

, were injured along with other film crew members while on the first day on the set of a new Paramount motion picture, '' Easy Come, Easy Go''. Paramount would ultimately cancel the film and reuse the film title the following year for an unrelated film starring

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Personal life

Shear's wife was actress Sondra Shear, (1926–2002) and his daughter is director Wendy Shear.

Death

Barry Shear died of cancer at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

in Los Angeles on June 13, 1979, at the age of 56.

References

External links

* 1923 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Film directors from New York City American film producers American television directors American television producers Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Deaths from cancer in California University of Wisconsin alumni United States Army Air Forces soldiers {{US-film-producer-stub