Joseph Sargent obit

Emmy-Winning Director Joseph Sargent Dies at 89

 He was not on the list.

Joseph Sargent, director of “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” and winner of four Emmys and four DGA Awards, died Monday at his home in Malibu of complications from heart disease. He was 89.

Sargent worked until he was 84. His credits included “Something The Lord Made,” “Warm Springs” “MacArthur,” “The Incident,” “Playing For Time,” “Miss Rose White” “Miss Evers’ Boys” and “Love Is Never Silent.”

He and his wife Carolyn helped co-found Deaf Theatre West as also founded the Free Arts Clinic For Abused Children. He won a Genesis Award for “The Last Elephant.”

Sargent worked during his last decade as the senior filmmaker-in-residence for the directing program at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles and as the first professor of a masters program in film directing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, where Sargent and his wife Carolyn have resided for 40 years.

“When it comes to directing Movies for Television, Joe’s dominance and craftsmanship was legendary — for the past 50 years,” said Directors Guild of America president Paris Barclay.

“With eight DGA Awards nominations in Movies for Television, more than any other director in this category, Joe embodied directorial excellence on the small screen.” Barclay said. “He was unafraid of taking risks, believing in his heart that television audiences demanded the highest quality stories – whether chronicling uncomfortable historic events like the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study in ‘Miss Evers’ Boys,’ or compelling personal stories about inspiring individuals like heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas in ‘Something the Lord Made.’ His biographies demonstrated an exactitude for period accuracy while simultaneously infusing historical figures with true-to-life spirit and passion.  Joe once said that he was ‘drawn to projects possessing ‘edge’ — material that can make some comment or contribution to the condition of man,’ and it is this ‘edge’ that is his enduring directorial legacy.”

He was born Giusseppe Daneiele Sorgente in Jersey City, New Jersey. He served as a teenage GI volunteer in Western Europe in World War II; after the war, he began studying as an actor studying at the Actors’ Studio.

He gained experience in episodic TV, first as an actor and finally getting directory opportunities in “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “Lassie,” “The Fugitive,” “Star Trek” and “The Man From Uncle.  He won his first Emmy directing the pilot episode of “Kojak,” a film entitled “The Marcus-Nelson Murders.”

Sargent is survived by his widow Carolyn Nelson Sargent, two daughters, Lia Sargent and Athena Sargent Sergneri (from a prior marriage to Mary Carver), and by nieces Charlotte and Emma Nelson.

 

Filmography

Year     Title            Director            Producer

1959    Street-Fighter 

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1968    The Hell with Heroes

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The Sunshine Patriot 

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1970            Colossus: The Forbin Project

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Tribes  

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1972    Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring    

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The Man         

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1973            Sunshine         

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The Marcus-Nelson Murders          

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White Lightning

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1974    The Taking of Pelham One Two Three      

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1975            Friendly Persuasion    

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The Night That Panicked America          

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Hustling           

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1977            MacArthur      

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1979            Goldengirl       

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1980    Coast to Coast          

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Amber Waves 

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1981            Freedom        

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Manions of America          

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1983            Nightmares     

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Memorial Day 

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Choices of the Heart   

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1984    Terrible Joe Moran       

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1985    Love Is Never Silent    

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Space  

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1986    There Must Be a Pony   

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1987    Jaws: The Revenge   

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1989    The Karen Carpenter Story   

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Day One         

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1990    The Incident           

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Caroline?         

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Ivory Hunters  

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1991    Never Forget 

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1992    Miss Rose White     

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Somebody's Daughter         

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1993    Skylark           

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Abraham         

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1994    World War II: When Lions Roared   

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1995    My Antonia           

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Streets of Laredo

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1997    Miss Evers' Boys     

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Mandela and de Klerk          

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1998    The Long Island Incident           

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Crime and Punishment      

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The Wall         

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1999    A Lesson Before Dying  

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2000    For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story

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2001            Bojangles        

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2003    Salem Witch Trials     

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Out of the Ashes  

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2004            Something the Lord Made  

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2005    Warm Springs

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2007    Sybil    

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2008    Sweet Nothing in My Ear      

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One Spy Too ManyRe-edit of a two-part The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes Alexander the Greater Affair with different shots and dialog.

 

The Spy in the Green HatRe-edit of a two-part The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes The Concrete Overcoat Affair with new scenes added.