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Daniel Petrie

The prolific directorial career of Daniel Petrie does not end simply with his oeuvre but continues on with a new generation of actors, producers, directors, and writers in the form of his two sons, Daniel Jr. and Donald, and his twin daughters, Mary and June. Petrie began his career, like many up-and-coming directors of the 1950s, cutting his teeth on the corporate sponsor-produced dramas of early television: "The Motorola Television Hour," "Goodyear Playhouse," "Kraft Theatre," and "The DuPont Show of the Month," to name a few. He branched into features in a big way with the 1961 adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun," a film that not only solidified Sidney Poitier's standing in Hollywood as a major star but also brought Petrie a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. He would continue this practice--working extensively on episodic television while peppering his resume with the occasional feature film--until the 1970s, when he turned to made-for-TV films and big-screen productions for the remainder of his career. His most productive and artistically successful flourish came in the 1980s, beginning with the remarkable sleeper "Resurrection," the heady crime drama "Fort Apache the Bronx," the Jane Fonda TV vehicle "The Dollmaker," and the movie with one of Burt Lancaster's last starring roles, "Rocket Gibraltar," in 1988. Petrie turned to TV movies exclusively in the 1990s and succumbed to cancer in 2004.