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Film and television director (1931–2020) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Hale (July 11, 1931 – June 10, 2020)[1] was an American film and television director.[2] He is best known for such films and television series as The Virginian, Journey to Shiloh, SOS Titanic, The Murder of Mary Phagan and The Streets of San Francisco.[3]
William Hale | |
---|---|
Born | Rome, Georgia, US | July 11, 1931
Died | June 10, 2020 88) | (aged
Other names | Billy Hale |
Occupation(s) | Film and television director |
Years active | 1955–1990 |
Spouse |
Trudy Dean (m. 1980) |
William Hale was born on July 11, 1931, in Rome, Georgia, to Alma and William Hale.[1] He attended local schools and moved to Atlanta after graduation to attend college. During his freshman year, he got a job working the night shift at a local television station. It was during those night shifts that Hale had the opportunity to watch movies being broadcast by the station and resolved to become a film director.[1]
Hale subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where he graduated from the USC Film School.[1] His senior year student film, The Towers[4] caught the eye of established Hollywood director George Stevens who hired Hale as Second Unit Director on Stevens' feature film The Greatest Story Ever Told. By the mid-1960s, Hale was directing feature films and made-for-TV movies, for Universal Studios. Over the course of his long career, Hale directed some of the best known A-List actors of his time. Among his credits were a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.[1]
After decades in California, in 2004 William and Trudy Hale sold their Topanga, California, ranch for an amount under $2 million, and moved to Nelson County, Virginia, where they bought a dilapidated farm house on three acres.[5] Naming the new home "Porches", the Hales renovated the rural home, accessible by way of a wooden bridge, and lands into a retreat for poets, novelists, and writers of every stripe. They housed as many as five guest artists at a time. Workshops were organized for the writers, where they could work directly with publishers and editors, to improve their manuscripts.[2]
William (Billy) Hale died June 10, 2020, at the age of 88, in Woodland Hills, California.