James Douglass West, who worked as a child actor alongside Roddy McDowall and Natalie Wood and spent a decade as a writer on Lassie, has died. He was 93.
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jan DeWitt, a longtime television producer of shows including “Bones” and “Judging Amy,” died Jan 29 at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 75.
DeWitt spent nearly 50 years working in the film and television industry. He began his career as a prop assistant and set painter and worked his way up to assistant director and unit production managerial roles on shows including “Miami Vice,” “Nowhere Man,” “Family Guy” and “The New Leave It To Beaver” before becoming a producer on “Judging Amy” and eventually ending his career in 2017 as an executive producer on “Bones.” Between those two shows alone, he oversaw production of more than 300 episodes of television.
His family, friends and colleagues remember DeWitt as a kind and devoted man who was passionate and capable in all areas of his life, from traveling in his Airstream to overseeing high budget productions. He is remembered as a devoted father to his daughter,...
DeWitt spent nearly 50 years working in the film and television industry. He began his career as a prop assistant and set painter and worked his way up to assistant director and unit production managerial roles on shows including “Miami Vice,” “Nowhere Man,” “Family Guy” and “The New Leave It To Beaver” before becoming a producer on “Judging Amy” and eventually ending his career in 2017 as an executive producer on “Bones.” Between those two shows alone, he oversaw production of more than 300 episodes of television.
His family, friends and colleagues remember DeWitt as a kind and devoted man who was passionate and capable in all areas of his life, from traveling in his Airstream to overseeing high budget productions. He is remembered as a devoted father to his daughter,...
- 2/18/2022
- by Sasha Urban
- Variety Film + TV
Jan DeWitt Dies: ‘Bones,’ ‘Judging Amy’ Producer Who Worked In Hollywood For Nearly 50 Years, Was 75
Jan DeWitt, who produced over 500 hours of television and features, including many episodes of Bones and Judging Amy, died as a result of Covid on the morning of January 29 at his home in Santa Barbara. His friend and partner, Charlene, was by his side and his daughter, Anika, was on the phone from Colorado when he passed. He was 75.
DeWitt worked all over the world in various capacities. He earned his National Maritime Union seamanship papers and traveled up the Mekong River with a boat full of ammunition when he was 18; then studied agriculture in college and found himself working on a farm in Australia before he was 21. Finally, he landed in Spain as assistant to the prop master on a feature film written by his father, Jack DeWitt, called A Man in the Wilderness. He never looked back.
In Hollywood, the Santa Barbara native worked his way up from...
DeWitt worked all over the world in various capacities. He earned his National Maritime Union seamanship papers and traveled up the Mekong River with a boat full of ammunition when he was 18; then studied agriculture in college and found himself working on a farm in Australia before he was 21. Finally, he landed in Spain as assistant to the prop master on a feature film written by his father, Jack DeWitt, called A Man in the Wilderness. He never looked back.
In Hollywood, the Santa Barbara native worked his way up from...
- 2/11/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Randolph Scott fights to let the railroad go through in this old-fashioned rip-snorting action adventure movie, the kind where shooting bad guys means never having to say you're sorry. Jane Wyatt gets top billing but the big burner on this prairie is newcomer Nancy Olson, who puts more sex appeal into her homegrown heroine than all of her later roles combined. Canadian Pacific Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1949 / Color /1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date August 9, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Randolph Scott, Jane Wyatt, J. Carrol Nash, Victor Jory, Nancy Olson, Robert Barrat, Walter Sande, Don Haggerty, Grandon Rhodes, John Hamilton, George Chandler, Holmes Herbert, Norman Jewison, Chief Yowlachie. Cinematography Fred Jackman, Jr., Film Editor Philip Martin Art Direction Ernst Fegeé Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin Written by Jack DeWitt, Kenneth Gamet story by Jack DeWitt Produced by Nat Holt Directed by Edwin L. Marin Reviewed by Glenn Erickson All Randolph Scott movies aren't created equal,...
- 9/25/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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