Stewart Raffill

Raffill broke into the film industry as an animal supervisor, eventually owning his own company which would rent out animals to film and TV show. He did this on such films as The Lion (1962), Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966) for Disney, Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), and Monkeys, Go Home! (1967), again for Disney, as well as the TV series Tarzan (1966–68).[3]

Raffill was sued by Mike Henry, who portrayed Tarzan in Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, because a chimpanzee attacked the actor.[4]

Raffill made his feature debut as director with The Tender Warrior (1971), starring Dan Haggerty. Raffill also helped write and produce, and handle animals. It was shot at the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Raffill sold it to Warner Bros, was unhappy with what they did with it, bought it back, and re-distributed it.[5]

His second script was Napoleon and Samantha (1972), which he sold to Disney. Raffill also worked on the film, which starred Jodie Foster and Michael Douglas, as a producer and animal supervisor.[6]

He wrote and directed When the North Wind Blows (1974). He shot animal footage for the documentary Wonder of It All (1974).

Raffill wrote and directed The Adventures of the Wilderness Family (1975) with Robert Logan which was a popular success, leading to two sequels, and established Raffill as a maker of family adventure films with animals.[7]

He followed it with two films with Logan, Across the Great Divide (1976) and The Sea Gypsies (1978).

Raffill wrote and directed High Risk (1981), shot in Mexico, which he later described as a personal favorite.[5] The film was not widely distributed but it got him the job of writing and directing The Ice Pirates (1984), made for John Forman and David Begelman at MGM on a budget of $8 million.[3]

Raffill directed and did uncredited writing on The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). Raffill later said this was the film which he thought best represented his artistic tendencies.[8]

Raffill directed and wrote Mac and Me (1989), made to provide royalties to the McDonald's Foundation and to have a lead with spina bifida, which became a cult favorite and won Raffill a Golden Razzie for Worst Director.[2][9]

Begelmen hired Raffill as a director only on Mannequin: On the Move (1991). Raffill wrote the original drafts for what became Passenger 57 (1992).[10]

Raffill wrote and directed Lost in Africa (1994) and Tammy and the T-Rex (1994).

Other credits include A Month of Sundays (2001), Survival Island (2005), Croc (2007), Bad Girl Island (2010) and Standing Ovation (2010).

He moved into directing for TV with The New Adventures of Robin Hood and did the TV movie The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998) with Jane Seymour and David Carradine, which he also wrote. He directed Grizzly Falls (1999) with Bryan Brown.

Raffill directed episodes of Pensacola: Wings of Gold and 18 Wheels of Justice, and the TV movie Croc (2007).

In 2018, Raffill's debut novel, Rage, was published.