Joseph Sargent

Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 December 22, 2014) was an American film director. Though he directed many television movies, his best known feature-length works were arguably the theatrical releases: Burt Reynolds action movie White Lightning, Gregory Peck biopic MacArthur, and horror anthology Nightmares. His most popular feature film was the subway thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Sargent won four Emmy Awards over his career.

Joseph Sargent
Sargent at the premiere of Something the Lord Made in 2004
Born
Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente

(1925-07-22)July 22, 1925
DiedDecember 22, 2014(2014-12-22) (aged 89)
Other namesJoseph Daniel Sargent
OccupationFilm director
Years active1951–2009
Known forWhite Lightning
MacArthur
Nightmares
Jaws: The Revenge
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Spouse(s)
(m. 1952; div. 1968)

Carolyn Nelson
(m. 1970)
Children2, including Lia Sargent

He is the father of voice actress Lia Sargent.

Life and career

Sargent was born as Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Italians Maria (née Noviello) and Domenico Sorgente.[1][2] Sargent began his career as an actor, appearing in numerous films and television programs.

He appeared in an uncredited role as a soldier in the film From Here to Eternity (1953) where he also met his first wife Mary Carver on the set. In the mid 1950s Sargent switched to directing; over the next 15 years his directing credits would include episodes of television series Lassie, The Invaders, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Star Trek.

In 1969, he directed his first feature, science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, and in 1972 The Man, starring James Earl Jones, which was begun as a television movie.

He alternated between television movies and feature films during the 1970s. Sargent's directorial work from this period includes; The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, the TV movies Hustling with Lee Remick and Jill Clayburgh, Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring with Sally Field and Tribes with Jan-Michael Vincent and Darren McGavin, as well as international award-winning ABC film The Night That Panicked America. In 1974, he won his first Directors Guild of America Award for The -Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973), which was the TV movie pilot for the Kojak series.

In the 1980s, Sargent directed mini-series Manions of America, which featured Pierce Brosnan, and Space. In 1987 he directed Jaws: The Revenge, the third sequel to Steven Spielberg's 1975 classic. The film received entirely negative reviews. Roger Ebert called his directing of the climactic sequence "incompetent,"[3] and he was nominated for Worst Director in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards.[4]

He concentrated on TV movies after Jaws: The Revenge, including The Karen Carpenter Story, The Long Island Incident, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and the 2007 remake of Sally Field docudrama Sybil.

Joseph Sargent and his wife Carolyn Nelson Sargent laid the groundwork for Deaf West Theatre.[5]

Sargent spent time as the Senior Filmmaker-in-Residence for the Directing program at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles.

Sargent died of complications from heart disease at his home in Malibu, California, on December 22, 2014. He was 89.[6]

Awards

Sargent was nominated for several Emmy awards. He won four. His first nomination came for his direction of TV movie Tribes (1970). His second nomination, for Kojak pilot The Marcus-Nelson Murders (1973), resulted in his first Emmy win. He also won Emmys for Love Is Never Silent (1985), Caroline? (1990) and Miss Rose White (1992).

Sargent was also nominated for Amber Waves (1980), A Lesson Before Dying (1999), Something the Lord Made (2004) and Warm Springs (2005), in which Kenneth Branagh played president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Early in his career, he won a Directors Guild of America award for the Kojak pilot. Sargent was nominated for eight DGA awards for television movies, more than any other director in this category. In 2005 he won the DGA Outstanding Directorial Achievement award for Something the LORD Made, and another the following year for Warm Springs.

Filmography

Year Title Director Producer Actor Notes
1953 From Here to Eternity
N
1959 Street-Fighter
N
1967 One Spy Too Many
N
Re-edit of a two-part The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes The Concrete Overcoat Affair with different shots and dialog.
1967 Tobruk
N
1967 The Spy in the Green Hat
N
Re-edit of a two-part The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes Alexander the Greater Affair with new scenes added.
1968 The Hell with Heroes
N
1970 Colossus: The Forbin Project
N
Tribes
N
Nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
1972 Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring
N
N
The Man
N
1973 The Marcus-Nelson Murders
N
Pilot film for Kojak. Winner of Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special. Won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film.
White Lightning
N
1974 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
N
1975 Friendly Persuasion
N
N
The Night That Panicked America
N
N
Hustling
N
1977 MacArthur
N
1979 Goldengirl
N
1980 Coast to Coast
N
Amber Waves
N
Nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama - A Single Program.
1981 Freedom
N
Manions of America
N
1983 Nightmares
N
Won the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.
Memorial Day
N
Choices of the Heart
N
N
1984 Terrible Joe Moran
N
1985 Love Is Never Silent
N
Won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
Space
N
Emmy Award, Outstanding Film Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or a Special

Emmy Award nominee, Outstanding Limited Series
Artios Award nominee, Best Casting for TV Miniseries

1986 There Must Be a Pony
N
N
1987 Jaws: The Revenge
N
N
Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Picture
Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Director
1989 The Karen Carpenter Story
N
Day One
N
1990 The Incident
N
Caroline?
N
Won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
Ivory Hunters
N
1991 Never Forget
N
1992 Miss Rose White
N
Won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
Somebody's Daughter
N
N
1993 Skylark
N
N
Abraham
N
1994 World War II: When Lions Roared
N
Noinated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film.
1995 My Antonia
N
Streets of Laredo
N
1997 Miss Evers' Boys
N
Nominated for Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film.
Mandela and de Klerk
N
1998 The Long Island Incident
N
N
Crime and Punishment
N
N
The Wall
N
N
1999 A Lesson Before Dying
N
Won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
2000 For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story
N
Nominated for Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film.
2001 Bojangles
N
Salem Witch Trials
N
2003 Out of the Ashes
N
2004 Something the Lord Made
N
Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in a Television Film. Nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
2005 Warm Springs
N
Won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film. Nominee for a Primetime Emmy for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
2007 Sybil
N
2008 Sweet Nothing in My Ear
N

References

  1. BRUCE BENNETT. "New York's Greatest Starring Roles". nysun.com.
  2. "Joseph Sargent Biography (1925-)". filmreference.com.
  3. Ebert, Roger. "Jaws the Revenge". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 18, 2006.
  4. "1987 Archive". Razzies.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2006.
  5. "The Deaf West Theatre". DeafWest.org. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  6. Dave McNary. "Emmy-Winning Director Joseph Sargent Dies at 89". Variety.
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