Peter Werner, the Oscar-winning director known for his television work that spanned five decades and included helming episodes of such popular series as Moonlighting, A Different World, Justified and Law & Order: Svu, has died. He was 76.
Werner died Tuesday morning in Wilmington, North Carolina, his younger brother, Tom Werner (producer on The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That ’70s Show, The Conners), told The Hollywood Reporter. “He had a torn aorta that the doctors weren’t able to repair. So sudden,” he wrote in an email.
As a student project while attending the American Film Institute, Peter Werner directed the 1976 short film In the Region of Ice, which was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story and starred Fionnula Flanagan. The project won the Oscar for live-action short film.
His career kicked off from there, with Werner helming a 1977 episode of Family. The ABC drama counted Mike Nichols and Aaron Spelling as executive producers.
Werner died Tuesday morning in Wilmington, North Carolina, his younger brother, Tom Werner (producer on The Cosby Show, Roseanne, That ’70s Show, The Conners), told The Hollywood Reporter. “He had a torn aorta that the doctors weren’t able to repair. So sudden,” he wrote in an email.
As a student project while attending the American Film Institute, Peter Werner directed the 1976 short film In the Region of Ice, which was based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story and starred Fionnula Flanagan. The project won the Oscar for live-action short film.
His career kicked off from there, with Werner helming a 1977 episode of Family. The ABC drama counted Mike Nichols and Aaron Spelling as executive producers.
- 3/22/2023
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Adapting Alex Haley's novel as a mini-series, Mama Flora's Family benefits hugely from a cast of solid character actors, including Cicely Tyson, Queen Latifah and Mario Van Peebles. Clearly not a major blip on the TV radar, the DVD of this 1998 mini-series took its time before being released earlier this year.
The DVD is pretty much bare-bones but frankly, I don't think the behind-the-scenes would have been much more than talking heads expounding on Mr. Haley's commitment to family values. Given the kind of content that graces shelves nowadays, it's a pleasant surprise that Family holds together as well as it does. As Flora (Tyson) looks back on a long life marked by equal parts sorrow and joy, she establishes her role as a matriarch and a savior for her children and grandchildren. The acting and production values are TV-grade and the emotions are writ large - still, overbearing it isn't,...
The DVD is pretty much bare-bones but frankly, I don't think the behind-the-scenes would have been much more than talking heads expounding on Mr. Haley's commitment to family values. Given the kind of content that graces shelves nowadays, it's a pleasant surprise that Family holds together as well as it does. As Flora (Tyson) looks back on a long life marked by equal parts sorrow and joy, she establishes her role as a matriarch and a savior for her children and grandchildren. The acting and production values are TV-grade and the emotions are writ large - still, overbearing it isn't,...
- 2/4/2011
- by Mark Zhuravsky
- JustPressPlay.net
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