B: November 26, 1920 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
D: August 22, 2004 in Los Angeles, California
After serving In Canada’s Armed Forces during WWII, Daniel Petrie traveled to New York to get an M.A. from Columbia University. While at Columbia, he ended up being cast for the Broadway play, Kiss Them For Me. An off-Broadway acting role followed as did the road tour of the play I Remember Mama. The tour ended in Chicago where he enrolled at Northwestern University as a doctoral candidate. But the 1950s brought a surge in television production and Daniel moved away from acting. He learned his craft as a director on live shows and prestigious productions of such classics as Mark Twain’s The Prince And The Pauper, Wuthering Heights which starred Richard Burton as Heathcliff, Oliver Twist with Eric Portman as Fagin, and Treasure Island in 1960. In that year he made his movie debut with The Bramble Bush, starring Richard Burton as a villainous doctor. But it was his second feature, A Raisin In The Sun that established his reputation. Based on a Broadway hit about a black family living in a predominantly white neighbourhood, the movie, starring Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, was a pioneering work for its time, and it won Daniel Petrie the Gary Cooper Award for best direction. His career spanned more than 50 years earning him eight Emmy Awards. His very personal story, The Bay Boy, which he wrote and directed, won six Genie Awards. For The Dollmaker, Jane Fonda picked up an Emmy and he was given a Directors Guild of America Award. Watch an interview with Daniel Petrie on the Directors Guild of America website. Daniel Petrie died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. |
Features & TV Movies: The Prince and The Pauper (TV-1957) Treasure Island (TV-1960) The City (TV-1971) Resurrection (1980) Mark Twain and Me (TV-1991) Walter and Henry (TV-2001) TV Series – at least 1 episode of: Way Out (1961) Hec Ramsey (1972) The Hidden Room (1991) |
 |
