Harve Bennett
Harve Bennett | |
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Star Trek (films) |
Harve Bennett (born Harve Bennett Fischman; August 17, 1930 – February 25, 2015) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter.[1]
Early years
Bennett was born to a
Move to production
Following his work with ABC, Bennett moved over to production. His first project was to develop a television series with producer Aaron Spelling called The Mod Squad, which Bennett produced from 1968 until 1973.[3]
Following The Mod Squad, Bennett joined
Bennett then moved to Columbia Pictures Television where he continued as a television producer, along with MGM TV employee Harris Katleman, which was joint partner from 1977 to 1980.[7] His projects at Columbia Pictures included the series Salvage 1 (1979) and the miniseries The Jesse Owens Story (1984).
While working at Columbia Pictures TV, Bennett was also brought to Paramount Pictures to work in their television division producing television series. One of his first productions for Paramount was a television miniseries for Paramount Domestic Television, A Woman Called Golda (1982), which was Ingrid Bergman's final role and which co-starred Leonard Nimoy.[3]
Star Trek
In 1980, only a few weeks into his contract with Paramount, Bennett was called to a meeting with then top executives of Paramount Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, along with Charles Bluhdorn who was then head of Paramount's parent Gulf+Western. Bluhdorn, dissatisfied with the results of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was looking for someone new to take over the next film in the series.
According to Bennett, Bluhdorn asked him what he thought of the first Star Trek film and, after Bennett said he found it boring, Bluhdorn asked him if he could make a better picture and if he could do it for less than $45 million (the eventual budget of the first film).[5] When Bennett said that he could, Bluhdorn said "do it" and he was hired.
To prepare for the job of producing a Star Trek film, Bennett first screened all 79 episodes of the original Star Trek series in a projection room at Paramount. He was particularly drawn to the episode "Space Seed" which featured Ricardo Montalbán as the genetically enhanced supervillain Khan Noonien Singh. At the conclusion of the episode, Khan and his followers are exiled to an uninhabited planet, and James T. Kirk and Spock wonder what will become of them. This gave Bennett the 'hook' he was looking for, and led him to develop a sequel to the episode.
Bennett's idea formed the beginnings of what would become The Wrath of Khan. Bennett himself developed the original story premise, and then worked with screenwriter Jack B. Sowards on the early drafts of the screenplay. Nicholas Meyer was later introduced to Bennett and completed the final drafts of the script, in addition to directing the film with Bennett as executive producer and Robert Sallin as producer.[4] Star Trek II proved to be an enormous success, both in terms of the box office receipts and fan response.
Following the success of Star Trek II, Bennett served as producer on the next three Star Trek films:
Following Star Trek V, Bennett developed an idea for a sixth Star Trek film that would take a different approach from the previous films.
Although Paramount was initially enthusiastic about the idea, feedback from fans was almost universally negative over a Star Trek film without the established actors that fans had come to know and love. Also, Martin Davis who at the time was the head of Gulf & Western, wanted a film featuring the original cast to mark Star Trek's 25th anniversary in 1991. Paramount offered Bennett the opportunity to produce this film with the original cast, even offering to produce his academy film afterward, but Bennett declined, citing multiple reasons including a lack of story ideas for the requested film and the rushed time frame in which the film would have to be completed in order to coincide with Star Trek's 25th anniversary.[4]
This marked the end of Bennett's association with the Star Trek franchise, and shortly thereafter he left Paramount.[4] The sixth Star Trek film was later titled Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and was released in movie theaters on December 6, 1991.
Later works
After producing the Star Trek films, Bennett wrote the television movie Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 (1992).[5] He co-created and produced the science-fiction television series Time Trax (1993–1995), and produced the animated miniseries Invasion America (1998), for which Nimoy was a voice actor.[5]
Death
Bennett died on February 25, 2015, in Medford, Oregon, due to a burst embolism in his small intestine and a second one found in his lung.[10][11] His death occurred two days before that of Leonard Nimoy. He was interred at the Willamette National Cemetery.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1982 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | Battle simulator computer | Voice, Uncredited |
1984 | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | Flight Recorder | Voice |
1989 | Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | Starfleet Chief of Staff |
References
- ^ R.S. (June 11, 1984). "Cinema: Space Opera". Time. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ "My Jewish Trek" Jewish Journal Sheldon Teitelbaum. March 18, 2015
- ^ a b c d "Harve Bennett Biography". FilmReference.com. NetIndustries, LLC. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Green, Michelle Erica (February 28, 2006). "The Trek Nation - Harve Bennett". The Trek Nation. UGO Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 12, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Board of Directors : Harve Bennett" (PDF). Veterans Park Conservancy. 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ a b Adalian, Josef (April 28 – May 4, 2003). "50 ABC". Variety: A5.
- ^ "Montanus succeeds Katleman as MGM TV president" (PDF). Broadcasting. 1977-08-01. Retrieved 2021-09-05.
- ^ a b McKay, John (October 13, 2003). "With Captain Kirk directing, Star Trek V arrives as DVD special edition". The Canadian Press.
- ^ The Star Trek V character's title can be seen in the credits.
- ^ Margalit Fox (March 6, 2015). "Harve Bennett, Quiz Kid and 'Star Trek' Producer, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Colker, David (March 7, 2015). "Harve Bennett dies at 84; TV producer rescued 'Star Trek' film franchise". Los Angeles Times.