Walter Doniger

Walter Doniger, a graduate of the Harvard School of Business, began his career as a scriptwriter in the early 1940s at Universal. During the war years, he collaborated on training films for the U.S. Army. His interest in military subjects influenced much of his later work in both television and film. One of his last projects, "The Last Days of Saigon," written between 1980 and 1981, remains unfinished and is held under classification at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.

From the late 1940s, Doniger specialized in masculine themes, initially as a writer and later, from 1954, as a director and occasional producer. His work spanned tough prison dramas such as *Duffy of San Quentin* (1954) and *The Steel Cage* (1954), war films like *Cease Fire!* (1953), films noir such as *Rope of Sand* (1949), and sports-themed films including *Safe at Home!* (1962) [baseball] and *Mad Bull* (1977) [wrestling]. In 1957, he founded Bettina Productions Ltd. By this time, he had shifted primarily to episodic television, particularly directing westerns like *Cheyenne* (1955) and *Maverick* (1957), and crime series such as *Michael Shayne* (1960) and *Ellery Queen* (1975). He was known for his use of the long take, frequent close-ups, tracking shots, and deep-focus composition, and was an early advocate for the use of videotape.

During the 1960s, Doniger directed 64 episodes of the popular soap opera *Peyton Place* (1964). He experimented with unbroken long takes, once using a fixed, crane-mounted camera above the set. As the crane descended, the cinematographer dismounted the camera and followed a principal performer on foot to complete the take. After leaving *Peyton Place*, Doniger worked briefly at Universal before returning to action subjects, his preferred genre. He directed several episodes of the popular police series *McCloud* (1970), starring Dennis Weaver.

Doniger's directing style was known to be somewhat abrasive, occasionally leading to conflicts with producers and stars, which may have contributed to his retirement from film work in 1991. He donated his personal archives of screen memorabilia to the Cinematic Arts Library at the University of Southern California.