Director

(b. August 30, 1928 Toronto, Ontario - d. November 21, 1989 Toronto, Ontario)

“The early CBC days were incredible because we were all learning together. I had the chance to do every kind of show, from Fighting Words, which I started with Nathan Cohen, to dramas like Duddy Kravitz and The Quare Fellow. When the CBC started, the U.S. stations had been giving us Uncle Miltie for years, so we decided to try things the Americans weren’t doing. And gradually we built up an audience for quality productions.” – Harvey Hart, February 1981

Harvey Hart, a University of Toronto graduate, got his start in 1952 working as a producer and director for CBC Television alongside such emerging talents as Norman Jewison, Arthur Hiller and Ted Kotcheff. Though he would enjoy a sporadic career as a journeyman film director, it was in television that he would produce some of his better work and become well known for his “international style.”

He moved to the United States in 1963 and directed a number of notable television series, including Peyton Place, The Alfred Hitchock Hour, The Wild Wild West, Star Trek, The Bill Cosby Show and Mannix. He moved his family back to Toronto in 1970 when MGM hired him to rescue the production of the controversial Fortune and Men’s Eyes (1971). He continued to commute between Los Angeles and Toronto throughout the seventies, during which time he directed five features in Canada: Fortune and Men’s Eyes, The Pyx (9173), Goldenrod (1976), for which he earned a Canadian Film Award for Best Director, Mahoney’s Last Stand (1976) and Shoot (1976). He directed numerous Columbo movies for television, and received a Golden Globe in 1982 for his work on the mini-series East of Eden (1981).

Hart continued splitting his time between film work in Canada and television work in Los Angeles throughout the eighties. He won a Gemini Award for directing the mini-series Passion and Paradise (1989) before dying of a heart attack in 1989.

Film and video work includes

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour series, 1962-63 (director; TV, 6 episodes)
Peyton Place series, 1964 (director; TV, 30 episodes)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour series, 1964-65 (director; TV, 4 episodes)
Ben Casey series, 1965-66 (director; TV, 3 episodes)
Bus Riley's Back in Town, 1965 (director)
Dark Intruder, 1965 (director)
The F.B.I. series, 1965 (director; TV)
Laredo series, 1965 (director; TV, 2 episodes)
Seaway series, 1965 (director; TV)
The Wild Wild West series, 1965 (director; TV, one episode)
Court Martial series, 1966 (director; TV, 2 episodes)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre series, 1966-67 (director; TV, 2 episodes)
Felony Squad series, 1966 (director; TV)
Star Trek series, 1966 (director; TV, one episode)
T.H.E. Cat series, 1966 (director; TV, one episode)
Judd for the Defense series, 1967 (director; TV, one episode)
Sullivan's Empire, 1967 (co-director with Thomas Carr; TV)
The Sweet Ride, 1968 (director)
The Bill Cosby Show series, 1969 (director; TV, one episode)
Dan August series, 1970 (director; TV)
Mannix series, 1970 (director; TV, 2 episodes)
The Young Lawyers series, 1970 (director; TV)
The Pyx, 1973 (director)
The Starlost series, 1973 (director; TV)
Can Ellen Be Saved?, 1974 (director; TV)
Columbo: By Dawn's Early Light, 1974 (director; TV)
Mr. and Mrs. Cop series, 1974 (director; TV)
Murder or Mercy, 1974 (director; TV)
Panic on the 5:22, 1974 (director; TV)
Columbo: A Deadly State of Mind, 1975 (director; TV)
Columbo: Forgotten Lady, 1975 (director; TV)
Columbo: Now You See Him, 1976 (director; TV)
Goldenrod, 1976 (director)
Mahoney's Last Stand, 1976 (director)
Shoot, 1976 (director)
Street Killing, 1976 (director; TV)
The City, 1977 (director; TV)
The Prince of Central Park, 1977 (director, producer; TV)
Captains Courageous, 1977 (director; TV)
Standing Tall, 1978 (director; TV)
Like Normal People, 1979 (director; TV)
The Aliens Are Coming, 1980 (director; TV)
The Starlost: The Beginning, 1980 (director; TV)
East of Eden, 1981 (director; TV)
The High Country, 1981 (director)
Utilities, 1981 (director)
Born Beautiful, 1982 (director; TV)
Massarati and the Brain, 1982 (director, TV)
This Is Kate Bennett..., 1982 (director; TV)
Getting Even, 1983 (director)
The Yellow Rose series, 1983 (director; TV, one episode)
Master of the Game, 1984 (co-director with Kevin Connor; TV, parts 2 and 3)
Reckless Disregard, 1985 (director; TV)
Spenser: For Hire series, 1985 (director; TV)
Beverly Hills Madam, 1986 (director; TV)
Murder Sees the Light, 1986 (director; TV)
Stone Fox, 1987 (director; TV)
Dick Francis: Blood Sport, 1989 (director; TV)
Passion and Paradise, 1989 (director; TV)
Christine Cromwell, series, 1989 (director, producer with Lynn Guthrie; TV)