Thu, 01/31/2008

Director/Producer Dwight Hemion has Died -- Archive Interview Online

We've just learned that legendary director/producer Dwight Hemion passed away on Monday, January 28th. In his prolific career, he garnered 47 Emmy nominations in his career and won 18. He is best-known for producing specials with such legends as Julie Andrews, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.

Click here to access Dwight Hemion's 5-part oral history interview.

Interview description:
In his 5-part oral history interview conducted in July of 2001, director Dwight Hemion talks about his early television career at ABC in the late 1940’s. He discusses in detail the beginnings of the ABC network and his early directing work on the television series Rootie Kazootie and The Tonight Show with Steve Allen. Hemion later discusses his collaboration with Gary Smith on Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall and their subsequent company collaborations in producing and directing television musical variety specials including Baryshnikov on Broadway. Hemion finishes the interview discussing the stars of his many specials, particularly Barbra Streisand. The Archive also recorded a joint session with Hemion and Gary Smith, where they discussed their longtime working collaboration.