Leonard Horn
Encyclopedia
Leonard J. Horn was a director of prime time television programs in the 1960s and 1970s, and helped shape a number of “classic” adventure and sci-fi series, including Mission: Impossible
, Mannix
, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
, and Wonder Woman
. Contemporary fan-sites such as the viewer polling pages of the Internet Movie Database
(hereafter IMDB) and TV.com
show Horn’s work to have stood the test of time; many of the 86 episodes he directed for 29 prime-time television series rank among the more popular moments in the first “Golden Age of Television”.
Horn was born in Bangor, Maine
. He started directing in 1959-1962 for Alfred Hitchcock Presents
and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and was soon among a stable of directors working on such popular prime-time programs as The Untouchables
, Route 66
, and The Fugitive
. Horn’s most sustained contribution to one series was directing ten episodes of Mission: Impossible
, including five in the first season. His “Operation Rogash” (1966), the series’ 3rd episode, ties among IMDB voters for the most popular first-season show, and most of his other efforts get high marks. In one of Horn’s second-season episodes, “Trek”, Peter Graves
appeared for the first time as “Mr. Phelps”.
(“My Name is Mannix”), written by Bruce Geller
, the creator and producer of Mission: Impossible
. Half of the images for the show’s subsequently-famous opening montage derive from this production. Horn directed an additional six shows for the series. Also in 1967, he directed the second pilot for the series Ironside
(“Split Second to an Epitaph”). His last pilot, and final television production, was for the series Wonder Woman
in 1975, and was nominated for an Emmy in graphic design and title sequencing.
, two are ranked in the top ten by IMDB users, and one, “The Man Who Was Never Born” is considered among the series’ classics. Horn’s single Lost in Space
entry (“Invaders from the 5th Dimension”) likewise makes the IMDB top ten of the series’ first-season episodes. In the premier season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
, the four most popular episodes among IMDB users were all directed by Horn, with “The Fear-Makers” called by one user “the first truly great episode”.
Even when Horn turned his attention to less familiar genres, such as the Western, he often managed to get the best performances out of his actors. The one episode he directed for The High Chaparral
(“The Price of Revenge”) ties among IMDB fans for the best first-season entry, and is among the most popular in the whole series. Late in his career, Horn turned to police shows, directing nine episodes of The Rookies
, three for Police Woman
, one each for McMillan & Wife, and The Mod Squad
.
, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Movie. One earlier directorial effort, the TV movie Rogue’s Gallery (1968), also landed a Golden Globe nomination for lead Greta Baldwin.
called "the quintessential, most truthful studio-made film about the '60s counterculture". Horn also directed Corky (1972) starring Robert Blake
as a stockcar racer.
Horn died in 1975 at the age of 48 in Los Angeles
, California
.
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, 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...
, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is an American science fiction film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released by 20th Century Fox in 1961. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane...
, and Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
. Contemporary fan-sites such as the viewer polling pages of the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
(hereafter IMDB) and TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
show Horn’s work to have stood the test of time; many of the 86 episodes he directed for 29 prime-time television series rank among the more popular moments in the first “Golden Age of Television”.
Horn was born in Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
. He started directing in 1959-1962 for Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and was soon among a stable of directors working on such popular prime-time programs as The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, and The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
. Horn’s most sustained contribution to one series was directing ten episodes of Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, including five in the first season. His “Operation Rogash” (1966), the series’ 3rd episode, ties among IMDB voters for the most popular first-season show, and most of his other efforts get high marks. In one of Horn’s second-season episodes, “Trek”, Peter Graves
Peter Graves (actor)
Peter Aurness , known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973...
appeared for the first time as “Mr. Phelps”.
TV Pilot Episodes
Horn was responsible for a number of classic TV pilots. In 1967, he directed the first episode of 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...
(“My Name is Mannix”), written by Bruce Geller
Bruce Geller
Bruce Israel Geller was an American composer, screenwriter, and television producer.-Biography:Born in New York City, New York, Geller graduated from Yale University. He pursued a career writing scripts for shows on the DuMont Television Network including Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop and others...
, the creator and producer of Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
. Half of the images for the show’s subsequently-famous opening montage derive from this production. Horn directed an additional six shows for the series. Also in 1967, he directed the second pilot for the series 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...
(“Split Second to an Epitaph”). His last pilot, and final television production, was for the series Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman (TV series)
Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
in 1975, and was nominated for an Emmy in graphic design and title sequencing.
Sci-Fi Shows
Along with adventure, science-fiction was among Horn’s most successful genres. Of three first-season episodes he directed for The Outer LimitsThe Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
, two are ranked in the top ten by IMDB users, and one, “The Man Who Was Never Born” is considered among the series’ classics. Horn’s single Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
entry (“Invaders from the 5th Dimension”) likewise makes the IMDB top ten of the series’ first-season episodes. In the premier season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is an American science fiction film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released by 20th Century Fox in 1961. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane...
, the four most popular episodes among IMDB users were all directed by Horn, with “The Fear-Makers” called by one user “the first truly great episode”.
Other Genres
Even when Horn turned his attention to less familiar genres, such as the Western, he often managed to get the best performances out of his actors. The one episode he directed for The High Chaparral
The High Chaparral
The High Chaparral is a Western-themed television series starring Leif Erickson and Cameron Mitchell which aired on NBC from 1967 to 1971. The show was created by David Dortort, who had previously created the hit Bonanza for the network...
(“The Price of Revenge”) ties among IMDB fans for the best first-season entry, and is among the most popular in the whole series. Late in his career, Horn turned to police shows, directing nine episodes of The Rookies
The Rookies
The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It followed the exploits of three rookie police officers in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department .-History:...
, three for 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:...
, one each for McMillan & Wife, and The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is a television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. This series starred Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, and Tige Andrews...
.
Producer
Horn briefly tried his hand at producing as well as directing in the series It Takes a Thief. His one other effort as a producer (this time without directing) was the made-for-TV movie The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976) – which garnered an Emmy for lead Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best TV Movie. One earlier directorial effort, the TV movie Rogue’s Gallery (1968), also landed a Golden Globe nomination for lead Greta Baldwin.
Feature Films
Horn directed The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970) which Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
called "the quintessential, most truthful studio-made film about the '60s counterculture". Horn also directed Corky (1972) starring Robert Blake
Robert Blake
Robert Blake may refer to:*Bob Blake , American professional ice hockey player*Robert Blake , English naval commander*Robert Blake , pioneering Irish dentist...
as a stockcar racer.
Horn died in 1975 at the age of 48 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 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...
.