Chase, Stanley

Expanded Biographical Narrative

Stanley Chase was born Stanley Cohen on May 3, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from New Utrecht High School in 1944, and enlisted in the Navy at age 17. He received his B.A. from New York University in 1949, and immediately pursued graduate study in drama at Columbia University. In 1950 Chase went to work for CBS Television and met Carmen Capalbo, with whom he eventually produced the record-breaking musical off-Broadway hit, The Threepenny Opera . Chase followed the success of that production with three more Broadway plays: The Potting Shed (1957), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1957), and The Cave Dwellers (1957). He also produced a European tour of Free and Easy, a Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer jazz musical featuring Quincy Jones.

Chase went on to work for various film and television companies, including Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, 1962; the American Broadcasting Company, where he was director of network television program development from 1962-1963; United Artists, where he created and developed the ABC television pilot Inside Danny Baker with Mel Brooks in 1963; Columbia Pictures, where he was a television production head and executive producer from 1963-1964; and Universal Studios, where he was an executive and producer from 1965-1970. Major projects from this period include the Universal Studio television anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre for NBC, 1966-1967, and the Universal Studios films The Hell with Heroes (1968) and Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970). Chase founded Stanley Chase Productions, Inc. in 1976 as a motion picture, television production, and distribution company, and was president of that enterprise. Major motion picture projects included High Ballin' (1978), Fish Hawk (1982), and Mack the Knife (1990). Television projects included the made for television movies The Courage of Kavik, the Wolf Dog (1979) and An American Christmas Carol (1980).