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Jack Smight

Prolific director Jack Smight moved nimbly between film and television productions with a passion for quirky, even macabre, fare. Nevertheless, he achieved greater fame for his action films of the 1970s. Smight enrolled in the Army as soon as he reached legal age, becoming a navigator and flying missions in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he studied drama at college in his home state of Minnesota, taking to the stage with a friend, Peter Graves (later of "Mission: Impossible" fame), with whom he later moved to Hollywood. Smight worked his way up to the director's chair on televised plays, winning an Emmy for his direction of Mickey Rooney in "Eddie" in 1958. He directed numerous TV episodes, including several for both "The Twilight Zone" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." He broke into features in 1964 with "I'd Rather Be Rich," the remake of the 1941 comedy "It Started With Eve." This led to a string of further films, including "Harper," with Paul Newman in the title role, and "The Illustrated Man," featuring Rod Steiger in an adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story. Smight would float between film and television, including a two-part, highly revered retelling of the Mary Shelley novel, "Frankenstein: The True Story." In his very productive 1970s period, he directed back-to-back action successes: "Airport 1975," a sequel to the disaster film "Airport," and "Midway," the tale of the famous World War II battle.