Buzz Kulik
Seymour "Buzz" Kulik (July 23, 1922 – January 13, 1999) was an American film director and producer. He directed 72 films and television shows, including the landmark CBS television network anthology series Playhouse 90 and several episodes of The Twilight Zone. Kulik went on to direct made-for-TV movies, such as Brian's Song

After leaving the army as a first lieutenant after World War II, Kulik went to work in the mail room at J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in New York. He eventually saw a notice at work that they were looking for people to direct programs for a new medium called television, and Kulik responded. A lifelong baseball fan, he started directing the cameras at Yankee Stadium before starting a career directing live television programming such as Playhouse 90 and Lux Video Theater. He moved to Los Angeles in 1953 and eventually began directing some of the landmark series of the 1950s and 1960s including Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Dr. Kildare and The Defenders (for which he directed the pilot episode). He directed a dozen episodes of Twilight Zone, which brought him lasting fame and recognition among the legion of fans who religiously watch the Twilight Zone marathons that continue to air on holidays to this day.

Kulik also began directing feature films in the 1960s including Explosive Generation with William Shatner, Warning Shot with David Jansen, Villa Rides with Robert Mitchum, Yul Brynner, and Charles Bronson, and Riot with Gene Hackman and Jim Brown. He directed the first television mini-series, Vanished, with Richard Widmark and James Farentino. In 1971, he directed what many critics and fans feel is the greatest television film ever made, Brian's Song, for which he received "Best Director" honors from the Directors Guild of America. For several years in a row the lead actors in the films he directed won "Best Actor" of the year including Peter Ustinov for A Storm in Summer, James Caan for Brian's Song, Alan Alda for Kill Me if You Can, Susan Clark for Babe, and Anthony Hopkins for The Lindbergh Kidnapping. Some of the prominent long-form mini series he directed were From Here to Eternity with Natalie Wood and William Devane, Around the World in 80 Days with Pierce Brosnin and Peter Ustinov, and Kane and Abel with Peter Strauss.

In the 1970s and 1980s he also directed feature films including To Find a Man, Shamus with Burt Reynolds, and The Hunter with Steve McQueen.

Over the course of a career that lasted more than 40 years, Buzz Kulik established himself, and is remembered today, as one of the greatest television directors of all time.

Filmography

 Collector's Item (1958 TV film)
 Perry Mason Case of the Pint-Sized Client (1958 TV)
 The Explosive Generation (1961)
 Kings of Broadway (1962 TV film)
 The Yellow Canary (1963)
 Ready for the People (1964)
 Kentucky Jones (1964–1965 TV series)
 Warning Shot (1967)
 Campo 44 (1967 television pilot film)
 Sergeant Ryker (1968, shot in 1963 as a television feature)
 Villa Rides (1968)
 Riot (1969)
 A Storm in Summer (1970)
 Vanished (1971 TV miniseries)
 Brian's Song (1971 TV film)
 To Find a Man (1972)
 Crawlspace (1972 TV film, uncredited)
 The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972 TV film)
 Incident on a Dark Street (1973 TV film)
 Shamus (1973)
 Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John (1973 TV film)
 Pioneer Woman (1973 TV film)
 Remember When (1974 TV film)
 Bad Ronald (1974 TV film)
 Cage Without a Key (1975 TV film)
 Babe (1975 TV film)
 The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976 TV film)
 Never Con a Killer (made-for-TV film pilot for TV series The Feather and Father Gang) (1977)
 Corey: For the People (1977 TV film)
 Kill Me If You Can (1977 TV film)
 Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (1978 TV film)
 From Here to Eternity (1979)
 The Hunter (1980)
 The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (1981) (uncredited)
 Rage of Angels (1983 TV film)
 George Washington (1984 TV miniseries)
 Kane & Abel (1985 TV miniseries)
 Women of Valor (1986 TV film)
 Her Secret Life (1987 TV film)
 Too Young the Hero (1988 TV film)
 Around the World in 80 Days (1989-1990 TV miniseries)
 Lucky Chances (1990 TV miniseries)
 Miles from Nowhere (1992 TV film)

References

External links

1922 births
1999 deaths
People from Kearny, New Jersey
Film producers from New Jersey
American television directors
Directors Guild of America Award winners
20th-century American businesspeople
Film directors from New Jersey