Worthington Miner

Worthington Miner
Born (1900-11-13)November 13, 1900
Buffalo, New York
Died December 11, 1982(1982-12-11) (aged 82)
New York City
Occupation Actor
Director
Producer
Screenwriter
Years active 1933—1971
Spouse(s) Frances Fuller

Worthington Miner (November 13, 1900 – December 11, 1982) was an American film producer, screenwriter, actor and director. He was married to Frances Fuller, father of producer/director Peter Miner and the grandfather of actress Rachel Miner.[1]

Worthington Miner is not a name always mentioned in the histories written about the earliest days of network television in America; this is no minor historical oversight, for Miner was one of the true pioneers of television and was recognized at the time as a seminal creative and technical force in the first 'Golden Age' of TV.

A number of directors and writers of note worked with Mr. Miner, including Rod Serling, Paddy Chayefsky, Franklin J. Schaffner, Sidney Lumet and George Roy Hill.

Prior to his work in television, Mr. Miner - known as 'Tony' - directed more than 30 plays in about 10 years, starting with Up Pops the Devil in 1929 and including Reunion in Vienna, starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne; Both Your Houses, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Maxwell Anderson; On Your Toes, the Ray Bolger musical; Jane Eyre, which starred Katharine Hepburn, and For Love or Money, in which Mr. Miner also acted.

In 1939, after more than 10 years in the theater, Mr. Miner publicly criticized it as highly undemocratic. At a Theatre Guild panel discussion in Williamstown, Mass., he said: When we speak of the theater, we speak of one city - New York. Yet even within the confines of that one city, the theater isn't democratic. It is a Park Avenue nightclub, a luxury for a selective few with the price of admission. It is for the rich in the richest city of this country, and I believe this situation is deplored by every author, actor and manager in the business.

Mr. Miner left the stage that year for a new medium, television, hoping in part, he said, to develop a national audience for drama without lowering his artistic standards.

While at CBS, he created and produced Studio One (also serving as writer and director for numerous episodes); the television version of The Goldbergs; Mr. I Magination, a children's show, and The Toast of the Town, casting Ed Sullivan as master of ceremonies. He also produced The Play of the Week; Playhouse 90 and Kaiser Aluminum Hour.

With those shows, he developed techniques for television directing and several of the technical positions, shooting and editing techniques that continue to be used in television and video production today. For Studio One especially, he used recordings for unspoken thoughts, the coupling of live performances with filmed sequences, and the combination of close-ups and long shots to give the impression of depth.

In his television work, he trained people, according to George Wallach, the director, 'to see what the tube sees and what comes over on the screen.'

Mr. Miner realized that television could not 'be made to fit into preconceived patterns of motion pictures, theater or radio. Television offers, instead, a superlative opportunity to absorb every type of experiment in all other entertainment media,' he said, adding that 'there is no limit to the scope of its coverage.'[2]

Selected filmography as a producer

Television

Selected filmography as an actor

References

  1. ↑ IMBD Biography
  2. ↑ "Worthington Miner, Producer in the Early Days of TV, Dies". NYTimes.com. New York Times.
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