Alex March

Name a 1960s or '70s television drama--chances are that Alex March directed at least one episode of it. The prolific director started out as an aspiring stage actor, then worked at CBS as a script editor and casting director before taking what would become his more accustomed seat behind the camera. One of his outstanding early directorial efforts was a 1959 episode of the television series "Sunday Showcase." Written by noted science fiction author Alfred Bester, the episode "Murder and the Android" starred unknowns Telly Savalas, Suzanne Pleshette, and Rip Torn as the man-machine of the title. Many of March's TV credits were in the grittiest, most realistic shows of their time: "Naked City," the E.G. Marshall showcase "The Defenders," and the hospital drama "Ben Casey." But, far from being a one-trick pony, March also helmed episodes of series as different in tone as the effervescent detective drama "McMillan & Wife," the science-fiction adventure "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," and the Western "Shane." March also directed three feature films, the most famous one being an adaptation of George Plimpton's true story of putting himself through an NFL training camp, "Paper Lion," which starred a pre-"M.A.S.H." Alan Alda.