Director

(b. December 3, 1914 Edmonton, Alberta)

Don Haldane was one of the first directors in Canada to specialize in dramatic films. He is best known for Drylanders (1963) and the Disney-produced Nikki Wild Dog of the North (1961), but also directed many notable dramas for the Perspectiveand For the Record series.

He studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1936 to 1937, the Yale University Drama School from 1938 to 1941 and the New School of Social Research in New York City from 1946 to 1947. He made many sponsored films in New York from 1947 to 1954, then joined the National Film Board, where he made several interesting films for the On the Spot/Sur le vif and Perspectiveseries, such as Alcoholism (1955), Case of Conscience (1956), Saskatchewan Traveller (1956) and Fires of Envy (1957). He left the NFB in 1959 to form Westminster Films in Toronto and freelanced as a director on television series including Forest Ranger and Swiss Family Robinson. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.

Film and video work includes

Montreal Fire Department, 1954 (cinematographer)
Alcoholism, 1955 (director; writer)
Backstage at Parliament, 1955 (director)
Child Guidance Clinic, 1955 (director; writer)
Coal at the Crossroads, 1955 (director)
Forest Wardens, 1955 (cinematographer)
Canadians Abroad, 1956 (director)
Case of Conscience, 1956 (director)
Curtain at Noon, 1956 (director)
Elder Citizen, 1956 (director)
Embassy, 1956 (director)
Fighter Wing, 1956 (director)
Is It a Woman's World?, 1956 (director)
Night Shift, 1956 (director)
Railroad Town, 1956 (director)
Saskatchewan Traveller, 1956 (director)
Ship in Harbour, 1956 (director)
Win, Place or Show, 1956 (director)
Crossroads, 1957 (director)
Fires of Envy, 1957 (director)
The Ghost that Talked, 1957 (director)
Howard, 1957 (director)
Joe and Roxy, 1957 (director)
Who Is Sylvia?, 1957 (director)
The Whole World Over, 1957 (co-director with Léonard Forest)
Mystery in the Kitchen, 1958 (director)
Eternal Children, 1959 (director)
The Gifted Ones, 1959 (director)
R.C.M.P, series, 1959 (director; TV)
U.N. in the Classroom, 1959 (director)
Nikki, Wild Dog of the North, 1961 (director; actor)
Political Dynamite, 1962 (director)
The Forest Rangers, series, 1963 (director)
The Reincarnate, 1971 (director)
Swiss Family Robinson, series, 1976 (director; TV, one episode)
Someday Soon, 1977 (director; TV)
To the Top, 1977 (producer)
Lead in Motion, 197? (director)
A Share in Tomorrow, 1980 (producer)
The Campbells, series, 1985 (director; TV)
The Way We Are, series, 1988 (director; TV)

By: Tom McSorley