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John Badham

John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an American film and television director. He is best known for directing the films Saturday Night Fever (1977), Dracula (1979), Blue Thunder (1983), WarGames (1983), Short Circuit (1986), Stakeout (1987), Bird on a Wire (1990), The Hard Way (1991) and Point of No Return (1993). He is a two-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, a two-time Hugo Award nominee, and a Saturn Award winner. He is also a Professor at Chapman University.^[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Badham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, the son of U.S. Army General Henry Lee Badham Jr., and English-born actress Mary Iola Badham (née Hewitt).^[2]Henry, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, moved his family back to the U.S. when John was two years old. John's parents and paternal grandparents are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. Henry was an aviator in both World Wars, and was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007. After retirement from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general, Henry became a businessman and helped develop the Ensley and Bessemer regions near Birmingham. This same line of business had brought his own father, John's grandfather, into association with Walker Percy, grandfather of writer Walker Percy.^[3]

After World War II, Badham's family settled in Mountain Brook, an affluent suburb of Birmingham. He attended Indian Springs School, at that time a brand-new, liberal boys' school located a short distance south of Birmingham in Shelby County near the rural post office of Helena. He later went to college at Yale University, earning a Masters of Fine Arts.

Career[edit]

Badham worked in television for years, on Universal Television series like Cannon and The Bold Ones. He then directed several acclaimed TV movies, including Isn't It Shocking? (1973) and The Law (1974). His first feature film was The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings in 1976.^[4]

His breakthrough came in 1977 when he replaced John G. Avildsen as the director of Saturday Night Fever, a massive worldwide hit starring John Travolta.^[5]His choices after that film were wildly eclectic, ranging from the action thriller Blue Thunder (1983) to the comedy-drama Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) to the comedy thriller Stakeout (1987) and its sequel Another Stakeout (1993). WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, is his other signature film, renowned for its take on popular Cold War fears of nuclear terror as well as being one of the first films to deal with the subculture of amateur hacking.^[6]Another sizable hit was Short Circuit (1986), a comedy about a robot who comes to life.^[7]

In addition to his numerous film credits, Badham has also continued to direct and produce for TV, including credits for Rod Serling's Night Gallery, the A&E television series The Beast, TV movies like HBO's The Jack Bull (1999), and episodes of series including Crossing Jordan and Criminal Minds.^[4]He has also contributed commentary to the web series Trailers from Hell.^[8]

In 1986, he signed a two-year development deal with production company Universal Pictures, in order to develop various film projects. Badham is a Professor at Chapman University.^[9]

Unrealized projects[edit]

Badham has been considered to direct films that ended up being directed by others, such as The Wiz (1978),^[10]Brubaker (1980),^[11]First Blood (1982),^[12]Staying Alive (1983),^[13]The Dead Zone (1983),^[14]Starman (1984),^[15]Project X (1987),^[16]Short Circuit 2 (1988),^[17]Ghost Dad (1990),^[18][19]Patriot Games (1992),^[20]The Firm (1993)^[21]and Dragonheart (1996).^[22]

Personal life[edit]

Badham's sister, Mary Badham, was nominated for an Oscar for her role as "Scout" Finch in the film To Kill a Mockingbird. They worked together on one project, William Castle's Let's Kill Uncle, released in 1966, Badham was Castle's casting director, and Mary played one of the leads.^[23]

Badham's former wife is retired model Jan Speck of The New Treasure Hunt. She had assorted cameo roles in many of his projects, starting in the 1980s.^[24]

Filmography[edit]

• The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Dracula (1979)
• Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
• Blue Thunder (1983)
• WarGames (1983)
• American Flyers (1985)
• Short Circuit (1986)
• Stakeout (1987)
• Bird on a Wire (1990)
• The Hard Way (1991)
• Point of No Return (1993)
• Another Stakeout (1993)
• Drop Zone (1994)
• Nick of Time (1995)
• Incognito (1997)

Television films[edit]

• The Impatient Heart, NBC (1971)
• No Place to Run, ABC (1972) (uncredited)
• Isn't It Shocking?, ABC (1973)
• The Law, NBC (1974)
• The Gun, ABC (1974)
• Reflections of Murder, ABC (1974)
• The Godchild, ABC (1974)
• The Keegans, CBS (1976)
• Floating Away, Showtime (1998)
• The Jack Bull, HBO (1999)
• The Last Debate, Showtime (2000)
• Brother's Keeper, USA (2002)
• Obsessed, Lifetime (2002)
• Footsteps, CBS (2003)
• Evel Knievel, TNT (2004)

Television series[edit]

• The Bold Ones: The Senator, NBC, (1971)
• Sarge, NBC, (1971)
• Night Gallery, NBC, (1971)
• Nichols, NBC, (1972)
• The Sixth Sense, ABC, (1972)
• The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, NBC, (1972)
• Cool Million, NBC, (1972)
• Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law, ABC, (1973)
• The Streets of San Francisco, ABC, (1973)
• Cannon, CBS, (1973)
• Kung Fu, ABC, (1973)
• Police Story, NBC, (1973)
• Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love, NBC, (1974)
• The Shield, FX, (2003)
• Blind Justice, ABC, (2005)
• Just Legal, The WB, (2005)
• Heroes, NBC, (2006)
• Crossing Jordan, NBC, (2007)
• Standoff, FOX, (2007)
• Las Vegas, NBC, (2007)
• Psych, USA, (2007)
• Men in Trees, ABC, (2008)
• In Plain Sight, USA, (2008)
• The Beast, A&E, (2009)
• Criminal Minds, CBS, (2009)
• Trauma, NBC, (2010)
• The Event, NBC, (2010)
• Nikita, The CW, (2012)
• Constantine, NBC, (2014)
• Supernatural, The CW, (2014)
• 12 Monkeys, SYFY, (2015)
• Stitchers, FREE, (2015)
• Arrow, The CW, (2015)
• Rush Hour, CBS, (2016)
• Siren, Freeform, (2018)

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Badham, John (2006). I'll Be in My Trailer. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907149.
• Badham, John (2013). John Badham on Directing. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 9781615931385.

External links[edit]

• Official website
• John BadhamatIMDb
• John Badham at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}