Walter Grauman obit

Director Walter Grauman Dies at 93

 

He was not on the list.

Walter E. Grauman, who directed multiple episodes of “Barnaby Jones” and “Murder, She Wrote” in a career that stretched back to the late 1950s, died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 93, dying three days after his birthday.

Grauman also directed the 1964 feature thriller “Lady in a Cage,” starring Olivia de Havilland; the 1965 drama “A Rage to Live,” starring Suzanne Pleshette and Bradford Dillman; the 1966 WWII thriller “I Deal in Danger,” starring Robert Goulet; and the 1970 WWII film “The Last Escape,” starring Stuart Whitman.

In addition to these films, Grauman directed the 1964 WWII film “633 Squadron,” starring Cliff Robertson.  George Lucas has said that he patterned the “trench run” sequence that results in the destruction of the Death Star in “Star Wars: Episode IV” on a scene in “633 Squadron.”

Grauman helmed 53 episodes of Angela Lansbury’s “Murder, She Wrote” and 49 episodes of Buddy Ebsen detective series “Barnaby Jones.” But his career also encompassed directing episodes of series ranging from “Peter Gunn,” “Perry Mason,” “The Untouchables,” “The Fugitive” and “The Twilight Zone” through “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Trapper John, M.D.”

Grauman, who was born in Milwaukee and later attended the University of Arizona, was distantly related to Sid Grauman, who built Hollywood’s Chinese and Egyptian movie theaters: His father was Sid Grauman’s first cousin.

During WWII he served for four years in the U.S. Army Air Forces, flying 56 combat missions over Europe in a B-25 and receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He began his showbiz career as a stage manager at NBC.

Grauman was the creator and executive producer of the Los Angeles Spotlight Awards, run through the Music Center.

He was also a member of the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Grauman is survived by his wife, Peggy; a daughter and son; and four grandchildren.

Directorial credits, theatrical films

The Disembodied (1957) Allied Artists

Lady in a Cage (1964) Paramount Pictures

633 Squadron (1964) Mirisch/United Artists

A Rage to Live (1965) Mirisch/UA

I Deal in Danger (1966) 20th Century Fox

The Last Escape (1970) Mirisch/UA

Pilots and television series

Columbo

The Untouchables

The Fugitive (pilot)

The Streets of San Francisco (pilot)

Barnaby Jones (pilot)

East Side/West Side

Naked City

The New Breed (pilot)

Route 66

Blue Light

Honey West (pilot)

Manhunter (pilot)

Most Wanted (pilot)

Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (episode "No Way Out")

Bare Essence (pilot)

Harrigan & Son (pilot)

Scene of the Crime (pilot)

Murder, She Wrote (53 one-hour episodes)

Blacke's Magic (episode "Vanishing Act")

Plus over 275 30-minute and 1-hour filmed dramatic programs, including:

 

V

Trapper John, M.D.

Twelve O'Clock High

The Eleventh Hour

Lancer

Hotel de Paree

Man Without a Gun

Colt .45

Cover Up

Steve Canyon

Peter Gunn

Blue Light

Burke's Law

The June Allyson Show

Empire

Live television drama

80 Matinee Theater one-hour programs

Alcoa Theatre

The Philco Television Playhouse

Director/creator/executive producer

Blue Light - series, ABC

Felony Squad - series, ABC

The Silent Force - series, ABC

Six Movies-of-the-Week, ABC

World Premiere, NBC

Eleven two-hour movies, CBS

Movies for television and mini-series

The Forgotten Man - Director/Producer/Creator

Daughter of the Mind - Director/Executive Producer

Crowhaven Farm - Director/Producer

The Old Man Who Cried Wolf - Director/Producer

Dead Men Tell No Tales - Director/Executive Producer

Paper Man - Director/Executive Producer

They Call It Murder - Director/Executive Producer

Nightmare on the 13th Floor - Executive Producer/Director

Movies for television and mini-series – director

Are You in the House Alone? – 2 hr

Crisis in Mid-air – 2 hr

The Golden Gate Murders – David Janssen/Susannah York, 2 hr, CBS

Irwin Shaw's Top of the Hill – Wayne Rogers, 4 hr

The Memory of Eva Ryker- Natalie Wood, 3 hr, CBS

Pleasure Palace – Omar Sharif, José Ferrer, 2 hr, CBS

Outrage! – 2 hr, CBS

Force Five – 2 hr, ABC

Covenant – José Ferrer, 2 hr, NBC

CBS movies and mini-series – director / producer

To Race the Wind – Steve Guttenberg – 2 hr, CBS

Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, 1981 – 5 hr, CBS

Bare Essence – 2 hr, CBS

Illusions – 2 hr, CBS

Who is Julia? – 2 hr, CBS

Shakedown on Sunset Strip – 2 hr, CBS

References