Larry Peerce
Encyclopedia
Larry Peerce is an American
film
and TV director
whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus
, the early rock and roll
concert film The Big T.N.T. Show
, and One Potato, Two Potato (1964), the first U.S. movie to portray an interracial relationship between an African-American and a Caucasian
.
tic tenor
Jan Peerce
and talent agent
Alice Peerce, Larry Peerce attended the University of North Carolina
. He made his directing debut with One Potato, Two Potato, released in 1964 by the distributor Cinema V. The groundbreaking drama about an interracial marriage between a white divorcee (played by Barbara Barrie
, who won the Best Actress award at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival
for the role) and an African-American office worker (Bernie Hamilton
) was the first U.S. movie to portray such an interracial relationship.
Peerce went on to direct several episodes of the Western
television series Branded and the campy superhero
series Batman
, among other shows, before directing the early rock and roll
concert film The Big T.N.T. Show
, released in 1966 by American International Pictures
and featuring such performers as The Byrds
, Ray Charles
, Bo Diddley
, Donovan
, The Lovin' Spoonful
, The Ronettes
and The Ike & Tina Turner Revue
.
Following more TV, Peerce returned to film in 1967 with The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
and, more notably, the well-received crime drama The Incident, which gave actors Martin Sheen
and Tony Musante
some of their earliest movie roles. He followed this with the acclaimed Goodbye, Columbus
, an adaptation of the Philip Roth
novel. The movie earned Peerce a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, and screenwriter
Arnold Schulman
an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Peerce's subsequent theatrical features included The Sporting Club A Separate Peace, Ash Wednesday
, and The Other Side of the Mountain
.
He directed the TV movies, The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (1974), and Elvis and Me
(1988), and directed several episodes of the children's TV series The Ghost Busters
a.k.a. The Original Ghostbusters, after more theatrical films that did not meet success, became a frequent director of television miniseries, including Queenie
(ABC, 1987), The Neon Empire (Showtime, 1988), the Jacqueline Kennedy biography A Woman Named Jackie
(NBC, 1991) and John Jakes
' Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III
(ABC, 1994). He additionally did several more TV movies, ending with Second Honeymoon (2001), starring Roma Downey
and Tim Matheson
.
He directed one episode of the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West
as "Lawrence Peerce".
Peerce was married for a time to Marilyn Hassett
, who appeared in several films he directed in the mid to late 1970s.
He also directed a episode from the television show the "Green Hornet".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and TV director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus (film)
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1969 American romantic comedy drama film starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, directed by Larry Peerce and based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth...
, the early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
concert film The Big T.N.T. Show
The Big T.N.T. Show
The Big T.N.T. Show is a 1966 concert film. Directed by Larry Peerce and distributed by American International Pictures, it includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and England....
, and One Potato, Two Potato (1964), the first U.S. movie to portray an interracial relationship between an African-American and a Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
.
Biography
The son of operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
Jan Peerce
Jan Peerce
Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce....
and talent agent
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
Alice Peerce, Larry Peerce attended the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. He made his directing debut with One Potato, Two Potato, released in 1964 by the distributor Cinema V. The groundbreaking drama about an interracial marriage between a white divorcee (played by Barbara Barrie
Barbara Barrie
Barbara Barrie is an American actress and author of children's books.-Personal life:Barrie was born as Barbara Ann Berman in Chicago, Illinois, of Jewish heritage, the daughter of Frances Rose and Louis Berman. She was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas. She graduated from University of Texas,...
, who won the Best Actress award at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
for the role) and an African-American office worker (Bernie Hamilton
Bernie Hamilton
Bernie Hamilton was an American actor.Hamilton was born in East Los Angeles and attended Oakland Technical High School, where he first became interested in acting. In films from 1950, he laboured in bit roles for years before getting noticed in the film One Potato, Two Potato , the story of an...
) was the first U.S. movie to portray such an interracial relationship.
Peerce went on to direct several episodes of the Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series Branded and the campy superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
series Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
, among other shows, before directing the early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
concert film The Big T.N.T. Show
The Big T.N.T. Show
The Big T.N.T. Show is a 1966 concert film. Directed by Larry Peerce and distributed by American International Pictures, it includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and England....
, released in 1966 by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
and featuring such performers as The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
, The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
, The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
and The Ike & Tina Turner Revue
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
.
Following more TV, Peerce returned to film in 1967 with The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
The Mystery of the Chinese Junk
The Mystery of the Chinese Junk is Volume 39 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.This book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by James Duncan Lawrence The Mystery of the Chinese Junk is Volume 39 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories...
and, more notably, the well-received crime drama The Incident, which gave actors Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
and Tony Musante
Tony Musante
Anthony Peter Musante is an American actor.Musante was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Natalie Anne , a school teacher, and Anthony Peter Musante, an accountant. He attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University.Musante has acted in numerous feature films, in the United States...
some of their earliest movie roles. He followed this with the acclaimed Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus (film)
Goodbye, Columbus is a 1969 American romantic comedy drama film starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, directed by Larry Peerce and based on the novella of the same name by Philip Roth...
, an adaptation of the Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
novel. The movie earned Peerce a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Arnold Schulman
Arnold Schulman
Arnold Schulman is an American playwright, screenwriter, producer, a songwriter and novelist. He was a stage actor long associated with the American Theatre Wing and the Actors Studio....
an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Peerce's subsequent theatrical features included The Sporting Club A Separate Peace, Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (1973 film)
Ash Wednesday is a 1973 American drama film directed by Larry Peerce. The screenplay by Jean-Claude Tramont focuses on the effect that extensive cosmetic surgery has on the life of a middle-aged married woman.-Plot:...
, and The Other Side of the Mountain
The Other Side of the Mountain
The Other Side of the Mountain is a 1975 American film based on a true story of ski racing champion Jill Kinmont.In early 1955, Kinmont was the national champion in slalom and was a top U.S. prospect for a medal in the 1956 Winter Olympics, a year away...
.
He directed the TV movies, The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (1974), and Elvis and Me
Elvis and Me
Elvis and Me is a 1985 biography written by Priscilla Presley . In the book, Priscilla talks about meeting Elvis, their marriage, and the factors that led up to the couple's divorce....
(1988), and directed several episodes of the children's TV series The Ghost Busters
The Ghost Busters
The Ghost Busters was a live-action children's television series that ran from 1975, about a team of bumbling detectives who would investigate ghostly occurrences. Only 15 episodes were created....
a.k.a. The Original Ghostbusters, after more theatrical films that did not meet success, became a frequent director of television miniseries, including Queenie
Queenie
"Queenie" is a caricature of the historical figure Queen Elizabeth I of England, played by Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II, the second series of the BBC historical sitcom Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England...
(ABC, 1987), The Neon Empire (Showtime, 1988), the Jacqueline Kennedy biography A Woman Named Jackie
A Woman Named Jackie
A Woman Named Jackie is a 1991 American made for television miniseries chronicling the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was based on C...
(NBC, 1991) and John Jakes
John Jakes
John William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:...
' Heaven and Hell: North and South Book III
North and South (TV miniseries)
North and South is the title of three American television miniseries broadcast on the ABC network in 1985, 1986, and 1994. Set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War, they are based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes. The 1985 first installment, North...
(ABC, 1994). He additionally did several more TV movies, ending with Second Honeymoon (2001), starring Roma Downey
Roma Downey
Roma Downey is an actress, singer, and producer, from Derry, Northern Ireland. She is best known as Tess's angel/employee, Monica, the main character of the TV series Touched by an Angel. She is also the wife of television producer, Mark Burnett.-Early life:Downey was born and raised in Derry...
and Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
.
He directed one episode of the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
as "Lawrence Peerce".
Peerce was married for a time to Marilyn Hassett
Marilyn Hassett
Marilyn Hassett is an American screen and television actress.-Biography:Hassett is best known for her portrayal of Jill Kinmont is the film The Other Side of the Mountain , which was directed by Larry Peerce, who chose her for the lead from several hundred hopefuls...
, who appeared in several films he directed in the mid to late 1970s.
He also directed a episode from the television show the "Green Hornet".