Dan Curtis

For the Canadian mayor, see Dan Curtis (politician).

Daniel Mayer Cherkoss (August 12, 1927 – March 27, 2006), known by his pen name Dan Curtis, was an American television and film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known as the creator of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71), and for directing the epic World War II miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988).

Dan Curtis
Born	Daniel Mayer Cherkoss (1927-08-12)August 12, 1927 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	March 27, 2006(2006-03-27) (aged 78) Brentwood, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Director, screenwriter, producer
Spouse	Norma Mae Klein ​ ​ (m. 1952⁠–⁠2006)​ (her death)
Children	3

Curtis’ is also known to horror film fans for his work on several horror-themed television series and films, including The Night Stalker (1972) and its sequel The Night Strangler (1973), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1974) and Trilogy of Terror (1975). He also directed three feature films – the Dark Shadows spinoffs House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971), and the supernatural horror Burnt Offerings (1976).

Curtis was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Limited Series for War and Remembrance, for which he also won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials.

Career

Curtis's series of macabre films include House of Dark Shadows, Night of Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker (for many years holding the record ratings of the most-watched TV movie—and inspired the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker), Intruders, The Night Strangler, Burnt Offerings, Trilogy of Terror and its belated sequel Trilogy of Terror II, The Norliss Tapes (a 1973 pilot for an unproduced series starring Roy Thinnes), Curse of the Black Widow, Dead of Night, and Scream of the Wolf. He worked frequently with sci-fi/horror writers Richard Matheson and William F. Nolan. Curtis was producer and/or director of several television adaptations of classic horror texts including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968), Frankenstein (1973), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), Dracula (1974), and The Turn of the Screw (1974).

In 1978, Curtis made a departure from his usual macabre offerings, when he wrote, produced, and directed the sentimental NBC television film When Every Day Was the Fourth of July. Although fictionalized, the film was semi-autobiographical, based on his childhood growing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the 1930s. The film was originally intended to be a pilot for a potential series, but when the series was not picked up by the NBC network, Curtis produced and directed the 1980 television movie sequel The Long Days of Summer, this time airing on the ABC network.

His 1983 miniseries The Winds of War, the most watched miniseries in American television history, was nominated for four Emmy Awards.

Curtis also directed the War and Remembrance miniseries, which was the continuation of The Winds of War. The program was 30 hours in length, split into two segments. Chapters I-VII aired in November 1988. The remaining five parts, Chapters VIII-XII, were billed as "The Final Chapter", and aired in May 1989. The miniseries received 15 Emmy Award nominations, including for best actor (John Gielgud), actress (Jane Seymour), supporting actor (Barry Bostwick), and supporting actress (Polly Bergen). The show won Emmys for best miniseries, special effects, and single-camera production editing.

The New York Times profiled Curtis while in post-production on War and Remembrance.

Curtis's rights to Dark Shadows remain with his estate, which signed a deal with Warner Bros. for a new Dark Shadows movie. The film stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, was directed by Tim Burton, and was released in May 2012. After the film's end credits, there is a dedication to Dan Curtis.

In 2023, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Born Daniel Cherkoss in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Curtis attended Syracuse University before becoming a syndicated television show salesman.

Curtis died on March 27, 2006, at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, twenty days after the death of his wife Norma. He was survived by two daughters.

Filmography

As director

Year	Title	Functioned as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer
1968-1969	Dark Shadows	yes (20 episodes)	yes	yes
1970	House of Dark Shadows	yes	no	yes
1971	Night of Dark Shadows	yes	yes	yes
1973	The Night Strangler	yes	no	yes
1973	The Norliss Tapes	yes	no	yes
1973	The Invasion of Carol Enders	yes	no	yes	uncredited
1974	Scream of the Wolf	yes	no	yes
1974	Bram Stoker's Dracula	yes	no	yes
1974	Melvin Purvis: G-Man	yes	no	yes
1974	The Turn of the Screw	yes	no	yes
1974	The Wide World of Mystery	yes (episode: “Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest”)	yes (2 episodes)	yes
1974	The Great Ice Rip-Off	yes	no	yes
1975	Trilogy of Terror	yes	no	yes
1975	The Kansas City Massacre	yes	no	yes
1976	Burnt Offerings	yes	yes	yes
1977	Dead of Night	yes	no	yes
1977	Curse of the Black Widow	yes	no	yes
1978	When Every Day Was the Fourth of July	yes	yes	yes
1979	The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang	yes	no	no
1980	The Long Days of Summer	yes	no	no	Executive Producer
1983	The Winds of War (miniseries)	yes	no	yes
1988	War and Remembrance	yes	yes	no	Executive Producer
1992	Intruders (miniseries)	yes	no	no	Executive Producer
1993	Me and the Kid	yes	no	no
1996	Trilogy of Terror II	yes	yes	no
1998	The Love Letter	yes	no	no
2005	Saving Milly	yes	no	no
2005	Our Fathers	yes	no	no

As producer

Year	Title	Notes
1968	The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1972	The Night Stalker	first Kolchak film
1973	Frankenstein	also co-writer
1973	The Picture of Dorian Gray	an entry in ABC's series The Movie of the Week
1991	Dark Shadows	re-imagining of the 1966–71 series

External links

• Dan Curtis at IMDb