David Lowell Rich

Between 1966 and the end of his career in 1987, David Lowell Rich directed a string of projects that would make even the more prolific of his peers slightly jealous. In 1972 alone he directed a feature film, four made-for-TV movies, and four episodes of high-profile TV series, including the iconic covert ops drama "Mission: Impossible." He followed that up the following year with eight made-for-TV movies and the feature film "That Man Bolt," a blaxploitation, kung-fu revenge flick starring Fred Williamson. Though his directing resume boasts just over 100 titles, Rich's work rarely garnered much critical praise or mass popularity. In 1980, "Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb" was one of the brighter spots, a chronicle of the events surrounding the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, starring Billy Crystal. His one honor was an Emmy Award for "The Defection of Simas Kudirka." Featuring Alan Arkin in the title role, the movie tells the true story of a Lithuanian seaman who unsuccessfully seeks asylum in the United States