Peter Masterson
Directing
Biography
Carlos Bee Masterson Jr. was an American actor, director, producer, and writer. Masterson often worked with his cousin, writer Horton Foote. Acting from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, including 1975's The Stepford Wives as Walter Eberhart, since then he concentrated mostly on directing and producing. Actress Mary Stuart Masterson is his daughter; she appeared with her father in The Stepford Wives, playing one of his daughters. His other acting credits include roles in Ambush Bay (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Counterpoint (1968), Von Richthofen and Brown (1971), Tomorrow (1972), The Exorcist (1973), Man on a Swing (1974), and Gardens of Stone (1987). Masterson co-wrote (with Larry L. King) the books for the hit musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978) and its short-lived sequel The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (1994). In 1980, he produced the ABC television movie, "City in Fear" based on an idea by screenwriter William Goldman—an idea that became the well-reviewed 1979 novel "Panic on Page One" by Linda Stewart, and the television script by Albert Ruben. The cast was led by Robert Vaughn and David Janssen in the final role before his death that year. In 1985, he directed The Trip to Bountiful, for which Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also featured his wife, Carlin Glynn who had previously won a Tony Award for her role in 'Whorehouse.' His directing credits additionally include Full Moon in Blue Water (1988), Night Game (1989), Blood Red (1989), Convicts (1991), Arctic Blue (1993), The Only Thrill (1997), Lost Junction (2003), and Whiskey School (2005). Masterson died at the age of 84 on December 18, 2018, after suffering a fall at his home. He had received a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease 14 years earlier.
Known For
When a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
The Exorcist
African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.
In the Heat of the Night
When a Conservative TV crusader threatens to shut down beloved brothel The Chicken Ranch, proprietress Miss Mona Stangley and her girls won't go down without a fight.
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Joanna Eberhart comes to the town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.
The Stepford Wives
After Lee Strasberg’s death in 1982, the most prestigious talents from the Actors Studio assumed the leadership of this exceptional organization. For the first time ever, filmmakers have been allowed to film their work.
Hello Actors Studio
Dramatization showing the 1968 seizure of the spy ship, Pueblo, by the North Koreans and the treatment of the Pueblo's crew during their year of captivity through flashbacks during the 1969 investigation of the affair.
Pueblo
At Arlington National Cemetery during the Vietnam era, veteran sergeant Clell Hazard trains young soldiers while mourning those lost in combat. Unable to return to war himself, he mentors Jackie Willow—the idealistic son of a fallen comrade—hoping to prepare him for the realities of Vietnam and the cost of duty.
Gardens of Stone
Spend time on both sides of World War I, partly with German flying ace Baron Manfred Von Richthofen (John Phillip Law), aka "The Red Baron," and his colorful "flying circus" of Fokker fighter planes, during the time from his arrival at the war front to his death in combat. On the other side is Roy Brown of the Royal Air Force, sometimes credited with shooting Richthofen down.
Von Richthofen and Brown
A hitchhiker gets a ride with an oddball woman who has her husband's body in the trunk of the car.
Lost Junction
In 1902, 13-year-old Horace toils on a run-down plantation in rural Texas to buy a tombstone for the father he lost a year earlier. Soll, the crusty old Confederate who owns the plantation and depends on convict labor to keep his farm running, takes a liking to Horace. However, Soll is aging and sinking into senility, making the possibility of Horace ever getting his pay increasingly unlikely. On Christmas Eve, as Soll becomes obsessed with his own mortality, he makes a grand promise... forcing Horace to confront his fear of death and the harsh truths of a decadent society.
Convicts
A police detective tracks a serial killer who is stalking young women on a beach front after each game that a baseball pitcher wins.
Night Game
Eric Desmond, a committed environmentalist, is accidentally involved in the transfer of Ben Corbett, a ruthless killer, from an isolated Alaskan village, along a long route, to civilization; but the prisoner is determined to escape at any cost.
Arctic Blue
In December of 1944, Lionel Evans, an internationally renowned American conductor, is on a USO tour with his 70-piece symphony orchestra in newly-liberated Belgium. While fleeing from a German counterattack, Evans and his orchestra members are captured by a Panzer division and taken to an old chateau in Luxembourg. Despite orders to execute every prisoner, General Schiller, an avid music lover, commands Evans to give a private concert for him.
Counterpoint
Carrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940s Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish – just once before she dies – is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home."
The Trip to Bountiful
A Marine unit on a Japanese-held island in the Philippines tries to hook up with local Filipino guerrillas.
Ambush Bay
A psycho-on-the-loose story, about a burned-out newspaper columnist and his circulation-hungry publisher who wants him to turn the killer into Page One news.
City in Fear
Set in the Napa Valley in 1895, an immigrant family struggles to keep their vineyards from industrialists.
Blood Red
Four year old Desi learns to accept the death of her father by sending him a letter on a balloon to which she receives a reply. Based on a true story.
Mermaid
A television writer is troubled by accusations that a young boy's death resulted from actions the boy copied from the writer's teleplay.
The Storyteller
A lonely farmer takes in a pregnant woman and looks after her. After she gives birth, tragedy strikes.