Petrie, Daniel

Daniel Petrie (Nov. 26, 1920-Aug. 22, 2004) was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, the youngest of six children born to William and Mary Campbell Petrie. His mother was a teacher, his father owned and operated a small soft drink company. He graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Sydney, Nova Scotia with an Arts degree. After a stint in the Canadian Army during WWII, Petrie went to New York to enroll at Columbia. While in New York, a chance meeting with producer Herman Shumlin led to his being cast in the Broadway production of Kiss them for me, with Richard Widmark and Judy Holiday. He next played a major role in the road company of I remember Mama, starring Mady Christians. When that tour closed prematurely in Chicago, he decided that an actor's life was too chancy for him. He returned to his academic studies at Northwestern University, where he completed his Ph.D. course work. He then was appointed chairman of the Speech, Radio and Television Departments at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, which was one of the first colleges in America to utilize TV cameras on campus. Soon enough, he was called back to Chicago to direct for NBC. His acclaimed program, Stud's place, with Studs Terkel, caught the attention of Billy Rose and Jed Harris, who brought Petrie to New York to direct their dramatic anthology series, The Billy Rose show. In 1958 Dan directed his first feature, The bramble bush; his next feature was A raisin in the sun, which opened in 1961. During these years he continued to direct for television during its "golden age"; at this time, there were also occasional forays into the theater. In 1970, the Petrie family moved to Los Angeles, where Dan worked with Lloyd Bridges and Shirley Jones on Silent night, lonely night--the first two-hour drama ever broadcast; soon after that came feature films. Dan made television history in 1977 when he directed three of the five Emmy Award nominees for Best Production--Sybil; Eleanor and Franklin: the White House years; and, Harry Truman: plain speaking. All three programs garnered Emmys, and for the second consecutive year, Daniel Petrie was voted Best Director by both the Academy and the Directors Guild. Sybil earned him a Golden Globe and the coveted Peabody Award. A few years later, Dan received another DGA Award for The dollmaker, starring Jane Fonda. In 1980 Dan directed Resurrection, which starred Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne. Both received Academy Award nominations. Then came Fort Apache, the Bronx, starring Paul Newman and Ed Asner. From there Dan returned to his hometown in Nova Scotia to direct his autobiographical screenplay, The Bay boy. In the 1990s, Dan went back and forth between features and TV specials. In 2002, Dan received his third honorary doctorate, this one from the American Film Institute. At the time of his passing, Daniel remained hard at work on a screenplay, Sable Island, adapted from Thomas Radall's acclaimed Canadian novel, The nymph and the lamp.

From the description of Collection, 1961-2004. (University of California, Los Angeles). WorldCat record id: 320045713

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