Paul Wendkos
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Paul Wendkos (September 20, 1922; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – November 12, 2009; Malibu, California) was an American television and film director.
Following wartime service in the US Navy and attending Columbia University on the GI Bill Wendkos made his first feature, a documentary on a school for the blind called Dark Interlude in 1953.
Wendkos's first feature film was The Burglar . Wendkos's fluid camera technique caught the attention of the head of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn who not only wished to distribute the film, but put Wendkos on a contract.
A variety of films followed for Columbia beginning with the hard-hitting crime drama The Case Against Brooklyn, two suspenseful war dramas Tarawa Beachhead and Battle of the Coral Sea, the youth-oriented Gidget and two sequels Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Gidget Goes to Rome as well as Because They're Young.
Wendkos also directed many episodes of Playhouse 90, Alcoa Theatre, Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Route 66, The Rifleman, Mr. Novak, Honey West, The Big Valley, I Spy, The Invaders and Hawaii Five-O. With I Spy, Wendkos filmed several interesting episodes but was deemed too "arty" by the producers and let go.
In 1968 Wendkos signed a five picture contract with Mirisch Productions beginning with the war films Attack on the Iron Coast and Hell Boats followed by Westerns set in Mexico but filmed in SpainGuns of the Magnificent Seven and Cannon for Cordoba. He also made the first feature film for Quinn Martin, The Mephisto Waltz.
From 1970 until his retirement in 1999, Wendkos specialized in made-for-television movies. One of these was The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988), based on a TWA hijacking in 1985, picked up five Emmy nominations, including one for Wendkos.
Wendkos was cited by film critic Andrew Sarris in his book The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968. He is also cited, along with many other directors, in The American Vein: Directors and Directions in Television by Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahimagi, Talisman Books (England), 1979, and E.P. Dutton (United States), 1979; Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 79-52675.
Wendkos married Ruth Bernat on March 1, 1953 and had one son, Jordan Elkan Wendkos. Ruth died in June, 1978. Wendkos married Lin Bolen, Former NBC VP & Producer in 1983 and they lived together happily in Malibu, California until his death. He is survived by his son, Jordan, granddaughter, Justine Wendkos, and his wife Lin Bolen Wendkos.
Wendkos was ill for several years following a stroke. He died on November 12, 2009 in Malibu, California.
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Photos
Films (77)
A Man of Potential: Visions of Paul Wendkos, the Godard of Gidget
2026 · Self
Different
1999 · Director
A Wing and a Prayer
1998 · Director
Nobody Lives Forever
1998 · Director
A Match Made in Heaven
1997 · Director
Message from Nam
1993 · Director
Bloodlines: Murder in the Family
1993 · Director
Trial: The Price of Passion
1992 · Director
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
1991 · Director
White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
1991 · Director
The Chase
1991 · Director, Producer
Good Cops, Bad Cops
1990 · Director
From the Dead of Night
1989 · Director
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 · Director
The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story
1988 · Director
Right to Die
1987 · Director
Six Against the Rock
1987 · Director
Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife
1987 · Director
Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies
1987 · Director
Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1986 · Director
Picking Up the Pieces
1985 · Director
The Bad Seed
1985 · Director
The Execution
1985 · Director
Scorned and Swindled
1984 · Director
The Awakening of Candra
1983 · Director
Intimate Agony
1983 · Director
Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
1983 · Director
Farrell: For the People
1982 · Director
Golden Gate
1981 · Director
The Five of Me
1981 · Director
A Cry for Love
1980 · Director
The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1980 · Director
Act of Violence
1979 · Director
The Ordeal of Patty Hearst
1979 · Director
Betrayal
1978 · Director
A Little Game
1977 · Director
Good Against Evil
1977 · Director
Secrets
1977 · Director
The Death of Richie
1977 · Director
Stalk the Wild Child
1976 · Producer
Special Delivery
1976 · Director
Death Among Friends
1975 · Director
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1975 · Director
The Underground Man
1974 · Director
Terror on the Beach
1973 · Director
Honor Thy Father
1973 · Director
The Strangers in 7A
1972 · Director
Footsteps
1972 · Director
Haunts of the Very Rich
1972 · Director
The Family Rico
1972 · Director
The Woman I Love
1972 · Director
The Delphi Bureau: The Merchant of Death Assignment
1972 · Director
A Death of Innocence
1971 · Director
A Tattered Web
1971 · Director
The Mephisto Waltz
1971 · Director
Travis Logan, D.A.
1971 · Director
Cannon for Cordoba
1970 · Director
The Brotherhood of the Bell
1970 · Director
Hell Boats
1970 · Director
Guns of the Magnificent Seven
1969 · Director
Fear No Evil
1969 · Director
Cocoon
1968 · Director
Attack on the Iron Coast
1968 · Director
Johnny Tiger
1966 · Director
Recoil
1963 · Director
Gidget Goes to Rome
1963 · Director
Five Fingers : The Temple of the Swinging Doll
1961 · Director
Gidget Goes Hawaiian
1961 · Director
Angel Baby
1961 · Director
Because They're Young
1960 · Director
Battle of the Coral Sea
1959 · Director
Face of a Fugitive
1959 · Director
Gidget
1959 · Director
Tarawa Beachhead
1958 · Director
Bitter Heritage
1958 · Director
The Case Against Brooklyn
1958 · Director
The Burglar
1957 · Director, Editor
Séries (15)
Blind Faith
1990 · Director, Creator
Cross of Fire
1989 · Director
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
1988 · Director
Rage of Angels: The Story Continues
1986 · Director
Celebrity
1984 · Director
A Woman Called Moses
1978 · Director
79 Park Avenue
1977 · Producer, Director
Hawkins
1973 · Director
Hawaii Five-O
1969 · Director
The Invaders
1967 · Director
The F.B.I.
1965 · Director
Honey West
1965 · Director
The Eleventh Hour
1962 · Director
Law of the Plainsman
1959 · Director
Behind Closed Doors
1958 · Director