Joseph Sargent

Joseph Sargent (born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente; July 22, 1925 – December 22, 2014) was an American director, producer, and actor of film and television. His directing career spanned nearly 50 years, between 1959 and 2008, and over 90 productions. He was a four-time Primetime Emmy Award and Directors Guild of America Award recipient.

Sargent's directing credits included the science-fiction film Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), the Burt Reynolds action film White Lightning (1973), the thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), the biopic MacArthur (1977) starring Gregory Peck, and the horror anthology Nightmares (1983). On television, he was known as a prolific director of telefilms and miniseries, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie three times.

He was the father of voice actress Lia Sargent.

Early life Sargent was born Giuseppe Danielle Sorgente in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Italian parents Maria (née Noviello) and Domenico Sorgente. Sargent served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Career 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 (four episodes), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver".

In 1970, he directed the science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project. In 1971, he was hired to direct Buck and the Preacher but, after a few days of shooting, was replaced by Sidney Poitier, who cited creative differences. The next year, however, he directed 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 the 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," and he was nominated for Worst Director in the 1987 Golden Raspberry Awards.

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 the Sally Field docudrama Sybil.

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

Personal life Joseph Sargent and his wife Carolyn ( Nelson ) Sargent laid the groundwork for Deaf West Theatre.

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

Filmography

Awards and nominations Sargent was nominated for several Emmy awards, winning four. 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.