William Hale (director)

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	(1931-07-11)July 11, 1931 Rome, Georgia, US
Died	June 10, 2020(2020-06-10) (aged 88) Woodland Hills, California, US
Other names	Billy Hale
Occupation(s)	Film and television director
Years active	1955–1990
Spouse	Trudy Dean ​ (m. 1980)​

Early years

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]

Hollywood film and television career

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]

Retirement

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]

Death

William (Billy) Hale died June 10, 2020, at the age of 88, in Woodland Hills, California.

Selected filmography

• The Towers (1957)^[4]
• Grand Central Market (1963) ^[6]
• Gunfight in Abilene (1967)
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1967) ^[1]
• Journey to Shiloh (1968)
• Red Alert (1977)
• S.O.S. Titanic (1979)
• Murder in Texas (1981) - Made for TV
• The Demon Murder Case (1983) - Made for TV
• The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988)
• Liberace (1988) - Made for TV