Boris Sagal

{{Infobox person

| name = Boris Sagal

| image = Boris Sagal.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|10|18}}

| birth_place = Yekaterinoslav, Soviet Union (now Dnipro, Ukraine)

| death_date = {{death date and age|1981|05|22|1923|10|18}}

| death_place = Portland, Oregon, U.S.

| death_cause = Helicopter accident

| occupation = Director

| years_active = 1955–1981

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Sara Zwilling|1952|1975|end=died}}
{{marriage|Marge Champion|1977}}

}}

| children = 5, including Katey, Jean and Liz, and Joey

| relatives = Jackson White (grandson)

}}

Boris Sagal (October 18, 1923 – May 22, 1981) was an American television and film director.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/obituaries/boris-sagal-58-movie-director-dies-after-a-helicopter-accident.html |title=Boris Sagal, 58, Movie Director, Dies After A Helicopter Accident |first=Shawn G. |last=Kennedy |date=May 24, 1981 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 18, 2012}}

Early life and career

Born in Yekaterinoslav, Ukrainian SSR (modern Dnipro, Ukraine) to a Russian family of Jewish descent,{{cite web |url=http://hollywood.premiere.com/tv_stars/celebrity-trivia-Katey+Sagal |title=Katey Sagal Trivia |work=Hollywood Up Close |year=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906215726/http://hollywood.premiere.com/tv_stars/celebrity-trivia-Katey%2BSagal |archive-date=September 6, 2010 |url-status=dead }}{{better source needed|date=July 2024}} Sagal immigrated to the United States. Sagal's TV credits include directing episodes of The Twilight Zone, T.H.E. Cat, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, Columbo: Candidate for Crime, Peter Gunn, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He also directed the 1972 television adaptation of Percy MacKaye's play The Scarecrow, for PBS. He was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for his direction of the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and, posthumously, Masada.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Among Sagal's credits for the big screen are the 1965 Elvis Presley film Girl Happy, the 1971 science fiction film The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston in the lead role, and The Dream Makers.

There is a directing fellowship in his name at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.{{cite web |title=Fellowship Projects |url=https://wtfestival.org/main-events/fellowship-projects-2018/ |website=Williamstown Theatre Festival |access-date=7 January 2021}}

Shortly before his death, Sagal's miniseries Masada aired on ABC.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/obituaries/boris-sagal-58-movie-director-dies-after-a-helicopter-accident.html|title=BORIS SAGAL, 58, MOVIE DIRECTOR, DIES AFTER A HELICOPTER ACCIDENT|date=24 May 1981|website=The New York Times|access-date=22 October 2017}}

Personal life

Sagal was the father of Katey, Joey, David, Jean and Liz with his first wife, Sara Zwilling, who died in 1975. His second wife was Marge Champion, to whom he was married from January 1, 1977, until his death.

Death

Sagal was killed in an accident during production of the miniseries World War III, when he was partially decapitated by walking into the tail rotor blades of a helicopter in the parking lot of Timberline Lodge in Oregon.{{cite web|date=May 23, 1981|title=Film director Boris Sagal, 58, was fatally injured fatally...|publisher=United Press International|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/05/23/Film-director-Boris-Sagal-58-was-fatally-injured-fatally/2019359438400/}} An investigation revealed that he turned the wrong way after exiting the helicopter. He died five hours later in a Portland hospital.{{cite news |last=Cathcart |first=Rebecca |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/arts/television/09cath.html |title=Out From Under All That Big Hair |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 7, 2008}}

He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 41315). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.