Ely Abraham Landau (January 20, 1920 – November 4, 1993) was an American producer and production executive best remembered for films of plays in the American Film Theatre series. Landau began working in television as a director and producer in the late 1940s following World War II military service. Landau co-founded National Telefilm Associates, a New York-based television distribution company, with

Oliver A. Unger Oliver A. Unger (August 28, 1914 – March 27, 1981) was an American film producer, distributor, and exhibitor. In a 45-year career, he was also a television producer and owner of movie theaters and television stations throughout the United St ...

and Harold Goldman in 1954 and subsequently became the president and chairman of the board of the company. Among NTA's assets were television stations including WNTA-TV in Newark, N.J. (now WNET),''Forbes,'' The 'Used Movie' Czars, May 15, 1958. whose pioneering programming included award-winning shows such as '' Play of the Week,'' '' Open End'' (hosted by David Susskind), and ''The Mike Wallace Interviews''. Landau won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for ''The Play of the Week'', a series of stage plays mounted for television from 1959 to 1961. NTA, which won praise for being innovative, distributed the series, for which Landau was primarily responsible. In a 1959 interview, he said: "With this I'm bucking the trend. But I don't think any independent station is going to succeed if it just does the Westerns and crime and situation comedy shows that we find everywhere else."">"Ely Landau, Producer, 73, Dies; Filmed Plays for TV and Theaters" - New York Times
/ref> In 1961, Landau and Unger turned to feature-film production, forming the Landau-Unger Company, which produced films such as ''Long Day's Journey into Night'' (1962) and ''The Pawnbroker'' (1964). The earlier film, a screen rendering of the play by Eugene O'Neill, was shown at the

1962 Cannes Film Festival The 15th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 23 May 1962. The Palme d'Or went to the ''O Pagador de Promessas'' by Anselmo Duarte. The festival opened with '' Les Amants de Teruel'', directed by Raymond Rouleau. During the Cannes Film Festiv ...

, where its stars (

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

, Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell) won the Best Actress and Actor awards collectively. The Landau-Unger Company also distributed '' The Eleanor Roosevelt Story'' (1965), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The Landau-Unger Company was sold to

Commonwealth United Corporation Commonwealth United Entertainment, formerly known as ''Television Enterprises Corporation'' and was also known as Commonwealth United Corporation after its parent corporation, was an American film production and distribution company active to 197 ...

in 1967, at which time he was named president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. In 1970, he compiled and produced the 185-minute television documentary '' King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis'', an account of the public career of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The documentary was praised as achieving a density and shapeliness that would be rare in any movie, let alone a documentary committed to the sequence of actual events. Always interested in adapting theatrical productions to film, he founded the American Film Theatre in 1972 to make movies adaptations of stage plays.

Select producing credits

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Ely 1920 births 1993 deaths American film producers American film studio executives 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American businesspeople Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery