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John Badham

 
Director: John Badham
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Aug 25, 1939 in Luton, England
  • Occupation: Director, Actor
  • Active: '70s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Thriller
  • Career Highlights: Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, Dracula
  • First Major Screen Credit: A Clear and Present Danger (1970)

Biography

Born in England, John Badham became a naturalized American citizen at the age of seven. He received a BA and MFA at Yale University, which he attended before and after his military service. He worked his way up the professional ladder at Universal Studios; his first directorial assignments included the trailers (or coming-attraction reels) of the studio's features. In the early 1970s, Badham gained a good reputation as an able director of made-for-TV movies. It was his handling of the 1974 docudrama The Gun that won Badham his first theatrical-feature assignment, the 1975 baseball flick The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars and Motor Kings (Badham was a last-minute choice when Steven Spielberg suddenly priced himself out of the film's budget thanks to Jaws). Badham's first bona-fide--and indeed, one of the biggest moneymakers of the 1970s--was the disco-driven Saturday Night Fever (1977). The director's striking visual sense and innate gift for montage has served him well in such nailbiters as Blue Thunder (1984), Wargames (1984), American Flyers (1985) and Point of No Return (1991); he was less successful with comedy, as witness Stakeout (1987) and Bird on a Wire (1989). In 1984, John Badham formed his own production firm, Great American Picture Show Company. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: John Badham
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John Badham
Born John MacDonald Badham
25 August 1939 (1939-08-25) (age 70)
Luton, Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation Film director
Years active 1969 - present

John MacDonald Badham[1] (born August 25, 1939) is an American film director.

Contents

Biography

Badham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, the son of Mary Iola (née Hewitt), an actress, and Henry Lee Badham, a business executive and U.S. Air Force General.[1] Badham was raised in the state of Alabama in the U.S. and became a naturalized citizen in 1950.[1] He attended Indian Springs School in Alabama and college at Yale University.

Badham had worked for television for years before his breakthrough with Saturday Night Fever in 1977. As well as numerous film credits, Badham has also directed and produced for TV, including credits for Rod Serling's Night Gallery and the A&E television series The Beast.

He is the older brother (by 13 years) of Mary Badham, Oscar nominated for her child-acting role in To Kill a Mockingbird. Brother and sister have never worked together on the same project, however. Even though she is younger, all of Mary's acting credits preceded John's film/television credits by several years. John's former wife, veteran model Jan Speck, 15 years his junior, has had assorted cameo roles in many of his projects, starting in the 1980s.

Filmography

Publications

  • Badham, John (2006). I’ll Be in My Trailer. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907149. 

References

  1. ^ a b c John Badham Biography (1939-)

External links

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Director. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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