Arnold Laven
Encyclopedia
Arnold Laven was an American film and television director and producer. He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy-Gardner-Laven
. Laven was a producer of, among other things, the long-running western television series The Rifleman
and The Big Valley
. He also directed motion pictures, including Without Warning!, The Rack
, The Monster That Challenged the World
, Geronimo
, Rough Night in Jericho
, and Sam Whiskey
. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series, including episodes of Mannix
, The A-Team
, Hill Street Blues
, The Six Million Dollar Man
, Fantasy Island
, The Rockford Files
and CHiPs
.
, and moved to Los Angeles
with his family in the late 1930s. He got his start in the entertainment business working as a mail room messenger at Warner Bros.
, Laven was assigned to the U.S. Army's First Motion Picture Unit
, the first unit of the United States military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel. The unit made training films from 1942–1945 at the old Hal Roach
motion picture lot. Laven later recalled that the films they made were not "phony" Hollywood war films: "They had to be approved by the higher-ups in the Air Force. They had to be technically accurate in every possible way." The unit included actors George Montgomery, Arthur Kennedy
, Alan Ladd
, William Holden
, and DeForest Kelley
. Army Capt. Ronald Reagan
was the unit's personnel officer. Laven recalled that the men liked and respected Reagan, noting, "He was always a very warm, cordial, and pleasant man."
Laven described the First Motion Picture Unit as "the best film school in the world," because participants learned all aspects of the movie industry. He even had the opportunity to work briefly in front of the camera as an extra in the pilot training short, Live and Learn.
's The Best Years of Our Lives
and Fred Zinnemann
's Teresa.
, both of whom he had met while working in the First Motion Picture Unit. The company, which eventually became Levy-Gardner-Laven
, was initially called "Allart Pictures, Inc." The company opened offices at Goldwyn studios and announced plans to begin casting on their first feature, Without Warning!, a thriller about a psychopathic killer on the loose. Laven directed, and Adam Miller was cast as a gardener who murdered women with his garden shears. Operating on a shoe-string budget, the film was shot on the streets of Los Angeles—on the Hollywood Freeway
, in Chavez Ravine
, at the Produce Terminal, and plant nurseries, cocktail bars, and taxi offices. On seeing the end product, the Los Angeles Times reported that Laven and his partners had "succeeded in parlaying a $15,000 investment into a film production that is likely to gross well over $1,000,000, so decisive is its merit."
In May 1952, Hedda Hopper
announced the arrival of the new team as follows:
The trio's second feature was Vice Squad, a 1953 detective drama directed by Laven and starring Edward G. Robinson
and Adam Williams.
The third feature, Down Three Dark Streets
, was another semidocumentary
-style film noir
starring Broderick Crawford
as an FBI agent. The film's climax took place around the Hollywood Sign
. A newspaper review of the 1954 film noted the promise of the three young producers:
In 1956, Laven went out on his own to direct The Rack
, a drama starring Paul Newman
and Lee Marvin
about a soldier who is court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy after spending two years in a North Korean prison camp. The film was based on a United States Steel Hour
program written by Rod Serling
.
In 1957, Levy-Gardner-Laven team turned their focus to the popular science fiction and monster genres. Laven received directing and producing credits on The Monster That Challenged the World
, a feature about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea
in California
's Imperial Valley
. A review in the Los Angeles Times called the film "distinctly chilling," noted that "Laven never lets the tension slacken," and described the plot as follows:
The trio followed with a pair of vampire movies, The Vampire, a 1957 release about a small town doctor who mistakenly ingests an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats, and The Return of Dracula
, a 1958 feature about a vampire who murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves to the United States.
In the late 1950s, Laven also directed Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
, a crime drama set on the docks starring Richard Egan
and Walter Matthau
, and Anna Lucasta
, a feature starring an all-African American cast that included Eartha Kitt
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
, on an episode of Zane Grey Theater when Laven came up with the concept for The Rifleman
. Looking for a hook to separate the idea from other westerns, Laven suggested that they focus on the relationship between the rifle-toting settler and his son. Laven recalled that he was "inspired by his own relationship with his son, Larry, and told writer Sam Peckinpah to develop a father-son relationship." The Rifleman, with former professional baseball
and basketball
player Chuck Connors
in the lead role, proved to be Laven's biggest success. The series ran from 1958 through 1963 and became one of the most successful television series of the 1960s.
With the success of The Rifleman, the Levy-Gardner-Laven team devoted much of their efforts in the 1960s to the western genre. During the 1959–1960 television season, they produced Law of the Plainsman
, a western television series starring Michael Ansara
as an Apache
Indian who attends Harvard University
and then returns west as a Deputy Marshal in New Mexico.
Laven developed a friendship with Rifleman star Chuck Connors. In 1962, Laven cast Connors in the title role of the biographical film, Geronimo
, which Laven directed and produced.
After The Rifleman left the air, Laven returned to the western genre as the executive producer of the long-running western television series, The Big Valley
. The series starred Barbara Stanwyck
and was broadcast by ABC from 1965 to 1969. Laven was responsible for casting Lee Majors
as Stanwyck's son, predicting big things for the young actor: "It's his first appearance before a camera and I'll go on record as saying he's one of the most attractive male stars to come along in years."
Laven's association with the genre extended into a string of feature films. His directing credits in the western genre included The Glory Guys
, a 1965 feature written by Sam Peckinpah about George Armstrong Custer
and his 7th Cavalry Regiment, and Rough Night in Jericho
, a 1967 western film starring Dean Martin
, George Peppard
, and Jean Simmons
.
In 1968, Laven became one of the first directors to be confronted with cutting a scene under the newly introduced MPAA ratings system. The film was Sam Whiskey
, a western directed by Laven and starring Burt Reynolds
and Angie Dickinson
as characters trying to recover $250,000 in gold bars from a steamboat wreck. The film as submitted by Laven to the MPAA included "a bare-from-the-waist-up shot" of Angie Dickinson
. When faced with the prospect of an "R" rating (at the time an entirely new concept), Laven substituted a tighter shot of Dickinson from the shoulders up to avoid the "R" rating.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Levy-Gardner-Laven team also remained active as producers on such films as Clambake
, a 1967 Elvis Presley
musical co-starring Shelley Fabares
, The Scalphunters
, an 1968 western directed by Sydney Pollack
and starring Burt Lancaster
, Ossie Davis
and Telly Savalas
, and Kansas City Bomber
, a 1972 drama starring Raquel Welch
as a roller derby
athlete.
(8 episodes), The Greatest American Hero
(7 episodes), The A-Team
(6 episodes), The Big Valley (6 episodes), The Secrets of Isis (6 episodes), Eight Is Enough
(5 episodes), Hill Street Blues
(3 episodes), The Six Million Dollar Man
(3 episodes), Planet of the Apes
(3 episodes), Fantasy Island
(2 episodes), The Rockford Files
(2 episodes), Police Woman
(2 episodes), Ironside
(2 episodes), and CHiPs
(2 episodes).
in the San Fernando Valley
. He was survived by his wife, the former Wallace Earl Sparks, a daughter and a son. Laven and his wife had been married since 1951.
Levy-Gardner-Laven
Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions was an American film production company based in Beverly Hills, California.The principals, Jules V. Levy, Arthur Gardner, and Arnold Laven, met while serving in the Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit during World War II. While serving, they decided to form their...
. Laven was a producer of, among other things, the long-running western television series The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
and The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
. He also directed motion pictures, including Without Warning!, The Rack
The Rack (film)
The Rack is a 1956 American war drama film, based on a play written by Rod Serling for television. It was directed by Arnold Laven and starred Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Lee Marvin and Walter Pidgeon. After two years in a North Korean prison camp, an American officer returns home, only to be...
, The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World is a science-fiction monster movie, about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea, California. Directed by Arnold Laven, the film starred Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton....
, Geronimo
Geronimo (1962 film)
Geronimo is a 1962 Technicolor Western film made by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, starring Chuck Connors in the title role. The film was directed by Arnold Laven from a screenplay by Pat Fielder and was mostly fimed in Durango, Mexico...
, Rough Night in Jericho
Rough Night in Jericho (film)
Rough Night in Jericho is a 1967 western film starring George Peppard, Dean Martin, and Jean Simmons, and directed by Arnold Laven. The supporting cast includes John McIntire and Slim Pickens. This is the only film where Dean Martin portrayed the villain....
, and Sam Whiskey
Sam Whiskey
Sam Whiskey is a 1969 comedy-western film directed by Arnold Laven and starring Burt Reynolds a decade before he zoomed to superstar status in the late 1970s. Angie Dickinson, Clint Walker and Ossie Davis co-star....
. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series, including episodes of Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
, The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
, Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
, The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
and CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
.
Early years
Laven was born in Chicago, IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
with his family in the late 1930s. He got his start in the entertainment business working as a mail room messenger at Warner Bros.
First Motion Picture Unit
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Laven was assigned to the U.S. Army's First Motion Picture Unit
First Motion Picture Unit
The First Motion Picture Unit was the first unit of the United States Military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel. It was also the title of a 1943 documentary about the unit.-Organization:...
, the first unit of the United States military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel. The unit made training films from 1942–1945 at the old Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
motion picture lot. Laven later recalled that the films they made were not "phony" Hollywood war films: "They had to be approved by the higher-ups in the Air Force. They had to be technically accurate in every possible way." The unit included actors George Montgomery, Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (actor)
Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
, Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
, and DeForest Kelley
DeForest Kelley
Jackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor known for his iconic roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.-Early life:...
. Army Capt. Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
was the unit's personnel officer. Laven recalled that the men liked and respected Reagan, noting, "He was always a very warm, cordial, and pleasant man."
Laven described the First Motion Picture Unit as "the best film school in the world," because participants learned all aspects of the movie industry. He even had the opportunity to work briefly in front of the camera as an extra in the pilot training short, Live and Learn.
Post-war years
After the war, Laven continued to work in the motion picture business, holding jobs as a script supervisor, dialogue director, and film press agent. He worked on such films as William WylerWilliam Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
and Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
's Teresa.
1950s
In September 1951, Laven formed a production company with Jules V. Levy and Arthur GardnerArthur Gardner (producer)
Arthur Gardner is an American actor and film producer.Gardner was born Arthur Goldberg in Marinette, Wisconsin. He started his show business career as an actor. One of his first roles was as a student in 1930's All Quiet on the Western Front...
, both of whom he had met while working in the First Motion Picture Unit. The company, which eventually became Levy-Gardner-Laven
Levy-Gardner-Laven
Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions was an American film production company based in Beverly Hills, California.The principals, Jules V. Levy, Arthur Gardner, and Arnold Laven, met while serving in the Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit during World War II. While serving, they decided to form their...
, was initially called "Allart Pictures, Inc." The company opened offices at Goldwyn studios and announced plans to begin casting on their first feature, Without Warning!, a thriller about a psychopathic killer on the loose. Laven directed, and Adam Miller was cast as a gardener who murdered women with his garden shears. Operating on a shoe-string budget, the film was shot on the streets of Los Angeles—on the Hollywood Freeway
Hollywood Freeway
The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route over the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley...
, in Chavez Ravine
Chávez Ravine
Chavez Ravine is an area in Sulfir Canyon that is the current site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles Councilman in the 19th century.-History:...
, at the Produce Terminal, and plant nurseries, cocktail bars, and taxi offices. On seeing the end product, the Los Angeles Times reported that Laven and his partners had "succeeded in parlaying a $15,000 investment into a film production that is likely to gross well over $1,000,000, so decisive is its merit."
In May 1952, Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
announced the arrival of the new team as follows:
The trio's second feature was Vice Squad, a 1953 detective drama directed by Laven and starring Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
and Adam Williams.
The third feature, Down Three Dark Streets
Down Three Dark Streets
Down Three Dark Streets is a 1954 documentary-style film noir, starring Broderick Crawford and directed by Arnold Laven. The screenplay was written by Gordon and Mildred Gordon, based on their novel Case File FBI.-Plot:...
, was another semidocumentary
Semidocumentary
Semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary...
-style film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
starring Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
as an FBI agent. The film's climax took place around the Hollywood Sign
Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is a landmark and American cultural icon in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee, Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in and white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition...
. A newspaper review of the 1954 film noted the promise of the three young producers:
In 1956, Laven went out on his own to direct The Rack
The Rack (film)
The Rack is a 1956 American war drama film, based on a play written by Rod Serling for television. It was directed by Arnold Laven and starred Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Lee Marvin and Walter Pidgeon. After two years in a North Korean prison camp, an American officer returns home, only to be...
, a drama starring Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
about a soldier who is court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy after spending two years in a North Korean prison camp. The film was based on a United States Steel Hour
The United States Steel Hour
The United States Steel Hour is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation....
program written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
.
In 1957, Levy-Gardner-Laven team turned their focus to the popular science fiction and monster genres. Laven received directing and producing credits on The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World
The Monster That Challenged the World is a science-fiction monster movie, about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea, California. Directed by Arnold Laven, the film starred Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton....
, a feature about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Imperial Valley
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley is an agricultural area of Southern California's Imperial County. It is located in southeastern Southern California, centered around the city of El Centro. Locally, the terms "Imperial Valley" and "Imperial County" are used synonymously. The Valley is bordered between the...
. A review in the Los Angeles Times called the film "distinctly chilling," noted that "Laven never lets the tension slacken," and described the plot as follows:
The trio followed with a pair of vampire movies, The Vampire, a 1957 release about a small town doctor who mistakenly ingests an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats, and The Return of Dracula
The Return of Dracula
The Return of Dracula is a 1958 horror film starring Francis Lederer as Dracula. The female lead, Rachel, is played by Norma Eberhardt. It is filmed in black and white and directed by Paul Landres....
, a 1958 feature about a vampire who murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves to the United States.
In the late 1950s, Laven also directed Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (film)
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a 1957 film directed by Arnold Laven. It stars Richard Egan and Jan Sterling.The film is a story of crime on New York's waterfront. It is based on the book "The Man Who Rocked the Boat," an autobiography by William Keating, played by Egan in the film...
, a crime drama set on the docks starring Richard Egan
Richard Egan (actor)
Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II...
and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
, and Anna Lucasta
Anna Lucasta (1959 film)
Anna Lucasta is a 1959 film directed by Arnold Laven. It stars Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis Jr.. “Anna Lucasta” was written by Chicago born Philip Yordan son of Polish immigrants; a versatile and successful Oscar winning film writer, whom wrote westerns, historical epics, thrillers, and sci-fi...
, a feature starring an all-African American cast that included Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
The Rifleman and other westerns
In 1957, Laven and his partners were collaborating with young screenwriter, Sam PeckinpahSam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
, on an episode of Zane Grey Theater when Laven came up with the concept for The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
. Looking for a hook to separate the idea from other westerns, Laven suggested that they focus on the relationship between the rifle-toting settler and his son. Laven recalled that he was "inspired by his own relationship with his son, Larry, and told writer Sam Peckinpah to develop a father-son relationship." The Rifleman, with former professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
player Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
in the lead role, proved to be Laven's biggest success. The series ran from 1958 through 1963 and became one of the most successful television series of the 1960s.
With the success of The Rifleman, the Levy-Gardner-Laven team devoted much of their efforts in the 1960s to the western genre. During the 1959–1960 television season, they produced Law of the Plainsman
Law of the Plainsman
Law of The Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the NBC television network from October 1, 1959, until May 5, 1960. The character of Native American U.S...
, a western television series starring Michael Ansara
Michael Ansara
Michael Ansara is a Syrian-born American stage, screen, and voice actor best known for his portrayal of Cochise in the American television series Broken Arrow, Kane in the 1979-81 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Commander Kang on three different Star Trek TV series.- Early life and...
as an Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
Indian who attends Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and then returns west as a Deputy Marshal in New Mexico.
Laven developed a friendship with Rifleman star Chuck Connors. In 1962, Laven cast Connors in the title role of the biographical film, Geronimo
Geronimo (1962 film)
Geronimo is a 1962 Technicolor Western film made by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, starring Chuck Connors in the title role. The film was directed by Arnold Laven from a screenplay by Pat Fielder and was mostly fimed in Durango, Mexico...
, which Laven directed and produced.
After The Rifleman left the air, Laven returned to the western genre as the executive producer of the long-running western television series, The Big Valley
The Big Valley
The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...
. The series starred Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
and was broadcast by ABC from 1965 to 1969. Laven was responsible for casting Lee Majors
Lee Majors
Lee Majors is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his starring role as Colonel Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and as Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy ....
as Stanwyck's son, predicting big things for the young actor: "It's his first appearance before a camera and I'll go on record as saying he's one of the most attractive male stars to come along in years."
Laven's association with the genre extended into a string of feature films. His directing credits in the western genre included The Glory Guys
The Glory Guys
The Glory Guys is a 1965 motion picture based on the novel The Dice of God by Hoffman Birney. Filmed by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, it stars Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, and Michael Anderson, Jr. The film's screenplay was written by Sam Peckinpah long...
, a 1965 feature written by Sam Peckinpah about George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
and his 7th Cavalry Regiment, and Rough Night in Jericho
Rough Night in Jericho (film)
Rough Night in Jericho is a 1967 western film starring George Peppard, Dean Martin, and Jean Simmons, and directed by Arnold Laven. The supporting cast includes John McIntire and Slim Pickens. This is the only film where Dean Martin portrayed the villain....
, a 1967 western film starring Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
, and Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
.
In 1968, Laven became one of the first directors to be confronted with cutting a scene under the newly introduced MPAA ratings system. The film was Sam Whiskey
Sam Whiskey
Sam Whiskey is a 1969 comedy-western film directed by Arnold Laven and starring Burt Reynolds a decade before he zoomed to superstar status in the late 1970s. Angie Dickinson, Clint Walker and Ossie Davis co-star....
, a western directed by Laven and starring Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
and Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
as characters trying to recover $250,000 in gold bars from a steamboat wreck. The film as submitted by Laven to the MPAA included "a bare-from-the-waist-up shot" of Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
. When faced with the prospect of an "R" rating (at the time an entirely new concept), Laven substituted a tighter shot of Dickinson from the shoulders up to avoid the "R" rating.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Levy-Gardner-Laven team also remained active as producers on such films as Clambake
Clambake
Clambake is a 1967 musical film starring Elvis Presley, and co-starring Shelley Fabares and Bill Bixby—the last of his four films for United Artists. The movie reached No. 15 on the national weekly box office charts.-Plot:...
, a 1967 Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
musical co-starring Shelley Fabares
Shelley Fabares
Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
, The Scalphunters
The Scalphunters
The Scalphunters is a 1968 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster, Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas. The film was directed by Sydney Pollack, with the score written by Elmer Bernstein...
, an 1968 western directed by Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
and starring Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
and Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas
Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
, and Kansas City Bomber
Kansas City Bomber
Kansas City Bomber is a 1972 American drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Jerrold Freedman and starring Raquel Welch.- Plot summary :The film is an inside look at the world of co-ed Roller Derby, then a popular league sport....
, a 1972 drama starring Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
as a roller derby
Roller derby
Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...
athlete.
Television directing
Laven also was also active for more than 30 years as a director of episodic television. His television directing credits included episodes of such series as The Rifleman (21 episodes), MannixMannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
(8 episodes), The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama television series that aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981...
(7 episodes), The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
(6 episodes), The Big Valley (6 episodes), The Secrets of Isis (6 episodes), Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...
(5 episodes), Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
(3 episodes), The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
(3 episodes), Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (TV series)
Planet of the Apes was a short-lived American science fiction television series that aired on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM Eastern/7:00 PM Central on CBS in 1974. The series starred Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, and James Naughton, Mark Lenard and Booth Colman...
(3 episodes), Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
(2 episodes), The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
(2 episodes), Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...
(2 episodes), Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
(2 episodes), and CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
(2 episodes).
Death
On September 13, 2009, Laven died from complications of pneumonia at the Tarzana Medical CenterEncino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center
The Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center consisted of two hospitals, one in Tarzana and the other in Encino, California. Together, the two hospitals had approximately 400 beds. The hospitals were owned by Tenet Healthcare until 2008...
in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
. He was survived by his wife, the former Wallace Earl Sparks, a daughter and a son. Laven and his wife had been married since 1951.