Douglas S. Cramer: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|American television producer|bot=PearBOT 5(1931–2021)}}

'''Douglas Schoolfield Cramer''' (August 22, 1931 – June 74, 2021) was an [[United States|American]] [[television producer]] who worked for [[Paramount Television]] and [[Spelling Television]], producing series such as ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', and ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]''.

Cramer, a native of [[Louisville, Kentucky]] and graduate of [[Walnut Hills High School]] in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], began his career in advertising, serving as a broadcast supervisor on [[Lever Brothers]] and [[General Foods]] programs at [[Ogilvy & Mather]] in [[New York City]]. In 1962, he became Director of Program Planning at [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Television]]. In 1966, he became vice president of television program development at [[20th Century Fox]]; he later became executive vice president in charge of production for [[Paramount Television]] in 1968, in which role he was responsible for such television shows as ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'', ''[[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|The Odd Couple]]'', ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', and ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]''. In 1971, Cramer left Paramount to form his own production company, inwhich 1971.had One ofproduced the series his company produced was ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'' television series.

Cramer joined [[Aaron Spelling]]'s production company in 1976. Cramer was an [[executive producer]] on the long-running 1980s series ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]'', its [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] series ''[[The Colbys]]'', and the 1991 [[miniseries]] ''[[Dynasty: The Reunion]]''.

Cramer produced 20 of the 22 [[miniseries]] adaptations of [[Danielle Steel]]'s novels; the exceptions being ''Jewels'' (1992) and the first, ''Now and Forever'' (1983).

Cramer was nominated for an [[Emmy Award]] for Outstanding Special&nbsp;– Drama or Comedy in 1975 for ''[[QB VII]]'', and again for Outstanding Drama Series in 1982 for ''Dynasty''.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186144/awards Douglas S. Cramer awards] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]</ref>

Cramer provided audio commentary for the pilot episode of the ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'' television series starring [[Lynda Carter]] (who joined him on the commentary) on the [[DVD region codescode|Region 1]] [[DVD]] for the first season.

While working in New York City, he starting buying prints by 20th-century Modernists, then by the younger artists there who were friends with [[Jim Dine]], [[Jasper Johns]], [[Roy Lichtenstein]], [[Ellsworth Kelly]], [[Agnes Martin]], [[Eva Hesse]], and others. In Los Angeles, Cramer started collecting Californian artists. He became one of the founders of the [[Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art]] and was president of its board of trustees from 1990 to 1993.<ref>[{{cite news|url=http://www.thecityreview.com/f01scra.html |title=Contemporary Art from the Douglas S. Cramer Collection], [[|publisher=Sotheby's]], |date=November 2001.}}</ref> At MOCA alone, he spearheaded art auctions, donated major artworks, and provided funds for a 1997 [[Ellsworth Kelly]] retrospective. He ended a 13-year tenure at MOCA in 1996, rotating off the board in accordance with a policy enacted in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|first=Suzanne |last=Muchnic (|date=April 27, 1997), [http|url=https://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-27/entertainment/-ca-52842_1_santa52842-ynez-valley story.html|title=Douglas Cramer Strikes His Santa Ynez Set] ''|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]''.}}</ref> He donated hundreds of artworks to museums, including sculptures by [[Anthony Caro]] and [[Richard Serra]] to [[Tate Modern]] in London and works by Kelly, [[Joel Shapiro]], and [[Andy Warhol]] to the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in New York City, where he was a member of the board sincefrom 1993 on.<ref>Carol{{cite news|first=Carol|last=Vogel (|date=September 20, 2012), [|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/arts/design/two-big-collectors-ready-for-november.html |title=Two Big Collectors Ready for November] ''|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]''.}}</ref>

* ''[[Star Trek: TOSThe Original Series|Star Trek]]'' (1968–1969), 24 episodes

* ''[[Nightingales (U.S.American TV series)|Nightingales]]'' (1989)