Director
Buzz Kulik
104 years · Kearny, New Jersey, USA · 35 films
Seymour "Buzz" Kulik (July 23, 1922 – January 13, 1999) was an American film director and producer. He directed 72 films and television shows, including the landmark CBS television network anthology series Playhouse 90 and several episodes of The Twilight Zone. Kulik went on to direct made-for-TV movies, such as Brian's Song. After leaving the army as a first lieutenant after World War II, Kulik went to work in the mail room at J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in New York. He eventually saw a notice at work that they were looking for people to direct programs for a new medium called television, and Kulik responded. A lifelong baseball fan, he started directing the cameras at Yankee Stadium before starting a career directing live television programming such as Playhouse 90 and Lux Video Theater. He moved to Los Angeles in 1953 and eventually began directing some of the landmark series of the 1950s and 1960s including Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Dr. Kildare and The Defenders (for which he directed the pilot episode). He directed a dozen episodes of Twilight Zone, which brought him lasting fame and recognition among the legion of fans who religiously watch the Twilight Zone marathons that continue to air on holidays to this day. Kulik also began directing feature films in the 1960s including Explosive Generation with William Shatner, Warning Shot with David Jansen, Villa Rides with Robert Mitchum, Yul Brynner, and Charles Bronson, and Riot with Gene Hackman and Jim Brown. He directed the first television mini-series, Vanished, with Richard Widmark and James Farentino. In 1971, he directed what many critics and fans feel is the greatest television film ever made, Brian's Song, for which he received "Best Director" honors from the Directors Guild of America. For several years in a row the lead actors in the films he directed won "Best Actor" of the year including Peter Ustinov for A Storm in Summer, James Caan for Brian's Song, Alan Alda for Kill Me if You Can, Susan Clark for Babe, and Anthony Hopkins for The Lindbergh Kidnapping. Some of the prominent long-form mini series he directed were From Here to Eternity with Natalie Wood and William Devane, Around the World in 80 Days with Pierce Brosnin and Peter Ustinov, and Kane and Abel with Peter Strauss. In the 1970s and 1980s he also directed feature films including To Find a Man, Shamus with Burt Reynolds, and The Hunter with Steve McQueen. Over the course of a career that lasted more than 40 years, Buzz Kulik established himself, and is remembered today, as one of the greatest television directors of all time.
Best known for
Filmography 35
Miles from Nowhere
1992 · Director
Too Young The Hero
1988 · Director
Her Secret Life
1987 · Director, Producer
Women of Valor
1986 · Producer, Director
On Tubi TV
The Hunter
1980 · Director
On Hoopla
Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women
1978 · Director, Producer
Kill Me If You Can
1977 · Director
Corey: For the People
1977 · Director
Babe
1977 · Director
Never Con a Killer
1977 · Director, Producer
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case
1976 · Director
Matt Helm
1975 · Director, Producer
Cage Without a Key
1975 · Producer, Director
Bad Ronald
1974 · Director
Give Me Liberty
1974 · Director
Remember When
1974 · Director
Pioneer Woman
1973 · Director
On Plex
Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John
1973 · Director
Shamus
1973 · Director
On Tubi TV
Incident on a Dark Street
1973 · Director
The Man Who Came to Dinner
1972 · Director
Crawlspace
1972 · Director
To Find a Man
1972 · Director
Brian's Song
1971 · Director
On YouTube Free