Lee H. Katzin

Director Lee H. Katzin began mastering his craft in 1961 as an assistant director on the TV series "The Rebel" before moving on to other shows--"The Outer Limits," "Rawhide," and "Branded." Indicative of the period, most of Katzin's early work was on genre pieces. He moved up to director on "Rawhide" and stayed with the show for an additional year before joining the crew of the WWII-based series "The Rat Patrol." After distinguishing himself with his serial work on "Hondo" and "Mission Impossible ," Katzin made his first TV movie, "Heaven with a Gun," in 1969. In 1970 he made the crime drama "Along Came a Spider," earning positive reviews. Venturing into feature films, Katzin directed Steve McQueen in the adventure movie "Le Mans," about the Le Mans endurance race in France. The next year he made "The Salzburg Connection," an adaptation of Helen McInnes's mystery novel about Nazi collaborators. Katzin worked on typical made-for-TV fare through the '70s. His next big project was in 1983, directing Cybil Shepherd in "The Yellow Rose"; the critically acclaimed series ran until 1984. Katzin worked on "The Young Riders" from 1989 until 1992, and made only two films after 1994, dying of cancer in 2002.