Birthday:
12-16-1920
Deathday:
09-10-1997 (76 years)
Birthplace:
Wallingford, Connecticut, USA
Biography
George Louis Schaefer (December 16, 1920 – September 10, 1997) was an American director of television and Broadway theatre, who was active from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Schaefer was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, and lived in Oak Park, Illinois for much of his boyhood and young adulthood. He was the son of Elsie (née Otterbein) and Louis Schaefer, who worked in sales. Schaefer studied stage directing at the Yale School of Drama. He began his directing career while serving in the U.S. Army Special Services during World War II. He directed over 50 plays for the troops. After being discharged, he directed for the Broadway theatre. His first production was of Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Maurice Evans. In 1953, Schaefer won a Tony Award for his production of The Teahouse of the August Moon which he co-produced with Evans.
During the Golden Age of Television, Schaefer directed numerous live TV adaptations of Broadway plays for NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame. His first episode for Hallmark was an adaptation of his Broadway staging of Hamlet starring Evans. In the 1980s, several of his productions for Hallmark aired in syndication under the title George Schaefer Showcase Theatre. His television work garnered him five Emmy wins out of 21 total nominations. He also won four Directors Guild of America Awards out of 17 nominations. He holds the record for the most DGA Award nominations. He also directed five theatrical films, but to limited success.
Schaefer was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, and lived in Oak Park, Illinois for much of his boyhood and young adulthood. He was the son of Elsie (née Otterbein) and Louis Schaefer, who worked in sales. Schaefer studied stage directing at the Yale School of Drama. He began his directing career while serving in the U.S. Army Special Services during World War II. He directed over 50 plays for the troops. After being discharged, he directed for the Broadway theatre. His first production was of Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Maurice Evans. In 1953, Schaefer won a Tony Award for his production of The Teahouse of the August Moon which he co-produced with Evans.
During the Golden Age of Television, Schaefer directed numerous live TV adaptations of Broadway plays for NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame. His first episode for Hallmark was an adaptation of his Broadway staging of Hamlet starring Evans. In the 1980s, several of his productions for Hallmark aired in syndication under the title George Schaefer Showcase Theatre. His television work garnered him five Emmy wins out of 21 total nominations. He also won four Directors Guild of America Awards out of 17 nominations. He holds the record for the most DGA Award nominations. He also directed five theatrical films, but to limited success.
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Beverly Hills Cop III
Act like Mike
event1994 star_border 5.9
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When his boss is killed, Detroit cop Axel Foley finds evidence that the murderer had ties to a California amusement park called Wonder World. Returning to sunny Beverly Hills once more, Foley reunites with Detective Billy Rosewood to solve the case. Along with Billy's new partner, Detective Jon Flint, they discover that Wonder World is being used as a front for a massive counterfeiting ring.
Eagle in a Cage
Director
event1965
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Recounts the events of the final years of Napoleon, culminating in his exile on the isle of St. Helena.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Producer
event1964 star_border 8
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The life of Abraham Lincoln is traced from the 1830s when he was a struggling backwoods lawyer to winning the Presidency in 1860.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Director
event1983 star_border 5
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The Herdmans – Gladys, Claude, Imogene, Leroy, Ollie and Ralph – are undeniably the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, cheat, bully and overall terrorize their small community. But this Christmas, they’re taking over their local church Pageant – and they just might unwittingly teach a shocked little town the true meaning of Christmas.
The Bunker
Director
event1981 star_border 6.3
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Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.
The Patriots
Director
event1963
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Thomas Jefferson has just returned from France, hoping to relax with his daughters at Monticello. George Washington however, has a favor to ask of him. Hit by tough political opposition, specifically afraid of rising monarch strength, he urges Jefferson to become his Secretary of State. Jefferson accepts, albeit grudgingly. Not long after, he is battling his archrival, Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist just before his election in 1800.
The File on Devlin
Director
event1969
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A young woman finds herself engulfed in Cold War intrigue when her father, a Nobel Prize-winning author, vanishes while travelling near the Russian border. Entrusted by her father with an unfinished book he was working on before his trip, the young woman becomes engaged in a power struggle over the material with her estranged stepmother. Suspiciously befriended by a journalist in the midst of the crisis, the young woman ultimately learns that no one is to be trusted - as her father's work is of interest to the intelligence departments of several countries.
Johnny Belinda
Director
event1958
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In post-war Cape Breton, a doctor's efforts to tutor a deaf and mute woman are undermined when she is raped, and the resulting pregnancy causes scandal to swirl.
Stone Pillow
Director
event1985 star_border 6
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A homeless woman named Florabelle becomes the unwitting guide to the streets for a New York social worker named Carrie who thinks she has lessons to offer the down-and-out clients she serves at the homeless shelter. Soon, however, Carrie realizes that she's the one who has much to learn.
Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry
Director
event1986 star_border 5.5
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A rich widow shocks her snobbish WASP family when she decides to marry her Jewish, divorced, doctor. His family is equally shocked.
The Tempest
Director
event1960 star_border 6
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Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan, who lives in exile on a remote island as a sorcerer, uses his powers to shipwreck his usurper brother on the island.
Our Town
Director
event1977 star_border 9
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3-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder.
Right of Way
Director
event1983 star_border 7.3
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Miniature Dwyer is named after her mother, who was making miniature doll houses when Minnie was born. Minnie, too, has built doll houses for years, and when she learns that she is terminally ill, she and her husband Teddy begin planning their joint suicide. She makes sure that her dolls are placed with people who will appreciate and cherish them. The couple refuse to allow their grief-stricken daughter or the solicitous social worker or anyone else to forestall the death they are determined is right for them
Doctors' Wives
Director
event1971 star_border 5
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The wives of several high-powered doctors feel neglected due to their husbands' focus on their careers, so they embark on a regimen of sex, drugs and booze.
The Second Barry Manilow Special
Director
event1978
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Barry's second TV special aired on ABC in 1978.
The Man Upstairs
Director
event1992 star_border 5
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Hepburn plays an elderly woman whose house becomes a hideaway for an escaped convict (O'Neal), and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship.
People vs. Jean Harris
Director
event1981
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This dramatic re-enactment premiered a mere nine weeks after the actual headline-making trial of the refined private school headmistress who was convicted of the murder of her unfaithful lover, Dr. Herman Tarnower, the famed "Scarsdale Diet" author.
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
Director
event1982 star_border 8
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An elderly widow must find meaning and activity in her life when her son suggests she is no longer capable of handling her own affairs.
Amelia Earhart
Director
event1976
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Biography follows the life of famed woman pilot Amelia Earhart, including her marriage to a famous publisher and her disappearance during a flight in 1937.
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
Director
event1976
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The Last of Mrs. Lincoln depicts the final seventeen years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following her husband's assassination.
Pendulum
Director
event1969 star_border 5.5
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On the evening of his decoration for bringing a murderer to justice, Washington DC Police Captain Frank Matthews' wife, and her lover are murdered in bed. Jailed as the prime suspect, with the aforementioned murderer released on a technicality Matthews escapes in search of the man he believes to be the real killer.
An Enemy of the People
Director
event1978 star_border 6.5
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A small forest town is trying to promote itself as a place for tourists to come enjoy the therapeutic hot springs and unspoiled nature. Dr. Stockmann, however, makes the inconvenient discovery that the nature around the village is not so unspoiled. In fact, the runoff from the local tanning mill has contaminated the water to a dangerous degree. The town fathers argue that cleaning up the mess would be far too expensive and the publicity would destroy the town's reputation, so therefore news of the pollution should be suppressed. Dr. Stockmann decides to fight to get the word out to the people, but receives as very mixed reaction.
Children in the Crossfire
Director
event1984 star_border 7
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For the children of Northern Ireland, violence and hatred are a way of life passed from one generation to the next. In "Children in the Crossfire" four children from both sides of the conflict come to America through a special project, and discover each other away from the ravages of their homeland.
Once Upon a Scoundrel
Director
event1973 star_border 5
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After falling for Alicia, greedy and powerful Mexican landowner Carlos has her fiancé thrown in prison on a bogus charge. To trick Carlos into releasing her man, Alicia teams up with her Aunt Delfina and tries to convince Carlos that he's a ghost.
First, You Cry
Director
event1978
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The story of television news correspondent Betty Rollin and her battle with breast cancer, and how her subsequent mastectomy changed her marriage, her philosophy and her entire life.
Macbeth
Director
event1954 star_border 7
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Macbeth (Maurice Evans), the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his King and takes the throne for himself.
A War of Children
Director
event1972 star_border 7.2
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A Protestant and a Catholic family's friendship is threatened by the sectarian violence in Belfast. When the daughter of the Catholic family falls in love with a British soldier, the situation worsens ...
The Girl Called Hatter Fox
Producer
event1977
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A doctor must battle against superstition and prejudice to try to save a young Indian girl, who has been sent to a state reform school as an incorrigible.
Answers
Director
event1985
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Three of Ernest Thompson's short plays are presented, each involving a surprise visitor. In the first, "A Good Time," a vacationing California Highway Patrolman visits a young woman in New York who had told him if he ever came to New York, she'd show him a good time. In the second, "The Constituent," a United States Senator drops in on a constituent who has been sending him scathing and profane letters for decades. Lastly, in "Twinkle, Twinkle," a restless housewife who has been writing fan letters to a television soap opera star, receives a surprise visit by him on her husband's bowling night.
Blithe Spirit
Director
event1966
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Adaptation of the Noel Coward play.
Victoria Regina
Director
event1961
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1961 adaptation of "Victoria Regina".
Captain Brassbound's Conversion
Producer
event1960
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A titled Englishwoman proves more than a match for the fearsome Captain Brassbound.
Who'll Save Our Children?
Director
event1978 star_border 6
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A childless couple provide shelter for a pair of homeless children. When they try to adopt them the natural parents appear leading to the inevitable court battle.
The Gift of the Magi
Producer
event1958
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A musical version of O. Henry's famous Christmas story.
Soldier in Love
Director
event1967
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The story of the Churchills in the court of Queen Anne.
The Land of Hope
Director
event1976
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Chronicles the experiences of four immigrant families as they experience the Lower East Side of New York during the early twentieth century.
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
Director
event1958
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In Holland, poor but industrious and honorable 15-year-old Hans Brinker and his younger sister yearn to participate in December's great ice skating race on the canal.
Barefoot in Athens
Director
event1966 star_border 6.3
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The last few days in the life of Socrates, including his trial.
Harvey
Director
event1996 star_border 4
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An unlikely hero, Elwood P. Dowd. This mild-mannered-but-eccentric bachelor has, for several years, happily kept company with Harvey, a six-foot-tall rabbit that only he can see. All's well until Elwood's social-climbing sister, Veta, and her teenage daughter, Myrtle Mae, come to live with him and fear his odd behavior will undermine their ambitions. When Elwood disrupts the ladies' first afternoon tea party by introducing wealthy Aunt Ethel Chauvenet to Harvey, Veta sees that something must be done right away. She takes compliant Elwood to the Chumley Rest Home, leaving him in the car while she tells a Dr. Sanderson all about Elwood and Harvey. Sanderson concludes that Veta is the psychotic one and has her carted off to be committed. Meanwhile Elwood is treated with respect and dignity in light of his sister's mental state. When Dr. Chumley, head of the rest home, returns and hears of the case, he draws the opposite conclusion-that Elwood in fact hallucinates.
Gideon
Director
event1971
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The Angel of God and an ordinary shepherd named Gideon debate obedience versus disobedience to God.
Macbeth
Director
event1964 star_border 6
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Hallmark Hall of Fame's second version of Shakespeare's classic play, with the same two stars and the same director as its first version, but a different supporting cast.
Inherit the Wind
Producer
event1965 star_border 8
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A young man, Bert Cates, is arrested in a small Bible Belt town for teaching the theory of Evolution in the public school. Two of the finest legal minds in the U.S. are called to the trial: Henry Drummond for the defense, and Matthew Harrison Brady for the prosecution. The trial proceeds on three levels, the guilt or innocence of Cates, the issue of the Bible vs. Darwin, and finally, the personal confrontation between Drummond and Brady.
The Admirable Crichton
Producer
event1968 star_border 6
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A group of people are shipwrecked when their yacht runs aground on a South Pacific island. The usual hierarchy in an upper-class British family breaks down quickly when it becomes apparent that only the servant, Crichton, is capable of surviving on his own and he becomes the community's leader.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Director
event1967
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Peter Schermann is angry at the world after his children move him into a nursing home. Still physically and mentally strong, he searches for a meaning to his life in a new and uncompromising world.
Pygmalion
Director
event1963
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Can Professor Higgins transform cockney flower girl Eliza Dolittle into a lady by teaching her to speak properly?
Alice in Wonderland
Director
event1955
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A young girl named Alice falls down a rabbit-hole and finds herself in Wonderland, a fantasy land of strange characters and ideas.
The Deadly Game
Director
event1982 star_border 7.2
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Several criminal lawyers reunite every year in the Swiss mountains to entertain themselves with fake trials and murder mysteries. At one year's party, an unwitting American becomes part of the game.
Fallen Angel
Assistant Director
event1945 star_border 6.4
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An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.
F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Last of the Belles
Director
event1974 star_border 5.5
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A semi-fictional account of how writer F. Scott Fitzgerald met his wife while he was in the army and stationed in Alabama in 1919.
Saint Joan
Director
event1967
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A television adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play about the life, battles and subsequent trial of Joan of Arc, based on the kept records from her trial.
Generation
Director
event1969 star_border 4.5
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Newlyweds shock the bride's father with plans for natural childbirth in a Greenwich Village loft.
In This House of Brede
Director
event1975 star_border 6
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Philippa Talbot is a talented London businesswoman who has decided to give up her position and power to become a nun. The man who loves her is in shock over her departure from his life. When Philippa arrives at Brede, a cloistered Benedictine monastery, the abbess who was responsible for convincing her to enter this vocation suddenly dies. Her successor is Catherine, a sensitive leader who's the first to tell the newcomer to the community that all nuns are to love without a preference for one over another. This becomes very difficult when Joanna, a young nun, singles Sister Philippa out and grows very attached to her.
Winterset
Director
event1959
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Immigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella.
Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure
Director
event1979 star_border 6.5
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In 1620, the Assembly of the Pilgrims decides to emigrate to the young America because of the persecution they suffer by the English crown. The film tells the adventurous journey of the Pilgrims to an unknown land and future.
The Lark
Producer
event1957
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Adaptation of Jean Anouilh's 1952 play about Joan of Arc, the young girl who led the French to victory against the English in the Hundred Years' War.
Meet Me in St. Louis
Director
event1959 star_border 5
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Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
A Cry of Angels
Director
event1963
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Hallmark presents the story of how the greatest oratorio, George Frederic Handel's "The Messiah," came to be written in the English language.
A Time For Love
Director
event1973
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Time for Love features two stories of love. A businessman has a life style change while a rock singer finds it hard to change his way of life and romance.
Arsenic & Old Lace
Director
event1962 star_border 6.5
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1962 telefilm adaptation of the classic American play about a deranged family and the string of murders they flippantly commit
The Yeomen of the Guard
Director
event1957
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A teleplay adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan's most serious opera presented on Hallmark Hall of Fame.
One Touch of Venus
Adaptation
event1955 star_border 7.3
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While touring a museum, Rodney Hatch, an unremarkable barber, places an engagement ring intended for his girlfriend on the hand of a statue of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. From Mount Olympus, Venus witnesses the event and decides to visit Rodney on Earth by magically inhabiting the statue. Hilarity ensues when she starts to fall in love with Rodney and competes with his girlfriend for his attentions. This television version of Kurt Weill's successful Broadway musical is much more faithful to the stage version than the 1948 Ava Gardner film, which changed the story considerably and cut most of the songs.
The Invincible Mr. Disraeli
Director
event1963 star_border 7
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The rise of the legendary 19th-century British politician and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli.
Kiss Me, Kate
Director
event1958 star_border 8.7
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Broadcast live on the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on NBC, a pair of divorced actors are brought together to participate in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play, and they must work together when mistaken identities get them mixed up with the mafia.
Laura Lansing Slept Here
Producer
event1988 star_border 5.7
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With a glittering cast that includes Katharine Hepburn and Karen Austin in lead roles, Laura Lansing Slept Here is a humorous family movie. Hepburn plays Laura Lansing, a novelist who undergoes an identity crisis as, despite her fame and fortune, she feels something is missing from her life. Entering into a quest to return a degree of normalcy to her life, Lansing's attempts provide many comedic moments, as well as a salient lesson for the famous author.
A Doll's House
Producer
event1959 star_border 10
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A wealthy woman's attempts to help her financially troubled husband go unrewarded.
The Fantasticks
Director
event1964 star_border 6
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Widowers Amos and Ben plot to romantically unite Amos’ daughter, Luisa, and Ben’s son, Matt, by pretending to feud and forbidding the teens to associate, knowing they will resist their fathers’ interference. As the two youngsters fall in love, the fathers plot to end the "feud" by hiring a traveling showman to fake an abduction and allow Matt to "rescue" Luisa.
Little Moon of Alban
Director
event1964
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Irish Brigid Mary blames the English for the deaths of her fiance, brother, and father. Becoming a nurse following WWI she finds herself caring for what she considers the enemy. Then she begins to fall in love with soldier Kenneth Boyd.
The Little Foxes
Producer
event1956
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A tale of greed, one-upmanship, family distrust, abuse, apathy, and lost love, set in the deep south at the turn of the twentieth century.
Little Moon of Alban
Producer
event1958
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Irish Brigid Mary blames the English for the deaths of her fiance, brother, and father. Becoming a nurse following WW I she finds herself caring for what she considers the enemy. Then she begins to fall in love with soldier Kenneth Boyd.
On Borrowed Time
Director
event1957
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Mr. Brink seems to bring death with him wherever he goes. But can a young boy and his grandfather change this dire situation?
The Holy Terror
Director
event1965
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A television dramatization based on the life and work of Florence Nightingale. The story, set in 1856, relates the incidents in her life following the war in the Crimea, where she had gained such fame that her name was virtually a household word.
Elizabeth the Queen
Producer
event1968
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In the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth I (Dame Judith Anderson) is the ruler of England. Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex (Charlton Heston) is her lover, best friend, and worst enemy.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Director (60 ep.)
event1951 star_border 8.7
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Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones.
The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
CBS Playhouse
Director (4 ep.)
event1966 star_border 7
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CBS Playhouse is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1967 to 1970. Airing twelve plays over the course of its run, the series was nominated for a number of awards and featured many noteworthy actors and playwrights.
NBC Sunday Showcase
Director (1 ep.)
event1959 star_border 4.5
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NBC Sunday Showcase was a series of hour-long specials telecast in color on NBC during the 1959-60 season. The flexible anthology format varied weekly from comedies and science fiction to musicals and historical dramas. The recent introduction of videotape made repeats possible, and two 1959 dramas had repeats in 1960.
On the heels of his Broadway hits The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, Richard Adler composed the opening Sunday Showcase theme music, titled "Sunday Drive".
Alcoa Premiere
Director (1 ep.)
event1961 star_border 5
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Alcoa Premiere is an American anthology drama series that aired from October 1961 to July 1963 on ABC. The series was hosted by Fred Astaire, directed by Norman Lloyd and executive produced by Alfred Hitchcock.
Kraft Mystery Theatre
Director (1 ep.)
event1961 star_border 6
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Kraft Mystery Theatre is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from June 17, 1961 to September 25, 1963.
Blind Ambition
Director (4 ep.)
event1979 star_border 5
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The Watergate crisis as viewed by John Dean and his wife Maureen, based on their personal accounts -- his best-seller, her book on how it affected their marriage -- and distilled into an eight-hour drama with all of the political figures of the day parading by as Dean relates his story to his attorney when his world, based on blind ambition, begins crashing down on him.
Lincoln
Director (6 ep.)
event1974 star_border 8
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Sandburg's Lincoln is a six-part mini-series starring Hal Holbrook as Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States.
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