William Dozier
Born: 1908-02-13 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Died: 1991-04-23
Known For: Production
Biography
William Dozier was an American TV and movie producer who made it to the top of the TV heap briefly in the mid-1960s with his show "Batman (1966)". Born on February 13, 1908 in Omaha, Nebraska, Dozier was also known for his wives. After divorcing his first wife, he was married to Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine from 1946 to 1951 and to movie star Ann Rutherford from 1953 to his death on April 23, 1991. In 1948, he and Fontaine launched Rampart Productions, which produced "Max Ophüls' Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)" starring his wife, and "You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)", which starred Fontaine and James Stewart. He served as executive producer on both pictures. Turning to TV as the new decade of the Fifties dawned, Dozier produced the series "Danger (1950)", which ran for five years from 1950-55. In the Fifties and Sixties, he continued his career as a TV producer, bringing to the tube the short-lived TV series "Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (1953)" and "The Loner (1965)". In 1966, he achieved the height of TV success with "Batman" which ran for three seasons and was a cultural sensation. The TV show spun off a "Batman: The Movie (1966)" feature film. That same year, he also launched , a modest success, and "The Tammy Grimes Show (1966)", a notorious flop that shot five episodes and was canceled after four. Dozier retired as a producer after the 1969 movie "The Big Bounce (1969)" flopped, though he enjoyed a modest second career as an actor in the Seventies and early Eighties.
Filmography
2020
- Joker: Put on a Happy Face as Self (archive footage)
1999
- Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1987
1982
- Not Just Another Affair as Julius Thompkins
1980
- American Gigolo as Michelle's Lawyer
- Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones as Mr. Caldwell
1979
- Crisis in Mid-Air as Chairman
1978
- Evening in Byzantium as William Bast
- Evening in Byzantium as William Bast
1977
- Eight Is Enough
- The Amazing Howard Hughes as Sen. Ferguson
- The Amazing Howard Hughes as Sen. Ferguson
- Mission to Glory: A True Story as Father Argula
1975
- Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case as Dr. Richard Sheppard, Sr.
1969
- The Big Bounce ... (Producer)
1967
- Batgirl as Narrator (voice)
- Dick Tracy - The Plot To Kill NATO as Narrator (voice)
1966
- Batman as Narrator (voice)
- The Green Hornet as Narrator
- Batman as Narrator / Bat-Computer (voice) (uncredited)
- The Tammy Grimes Show ... (Producer)
1965
- The Loner ... (Executive Producer)
1958
- Stage Struck ... (Executive Producer)
1956
- Back from Eternity ... (Executive Producer)
1953
- Death Is My Neighbor ... (Executive Producer)
1951
- Two of a Kind ... (Producer)
1950
- Harriet Craig ... (Producer)
1948
- Letter from an Unknown Woman ... (Executive Producer)
- You Gotta Stay Happy ... (Presenter)
1947
- Slave Girl ... (Producer)