Marvin J. Chomsky.Photo: ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection
Marvin J. Chomsky — a prolific television director and multiple Emmy winner known for projects likeRootsand the originalStar Trekseries — has died.
The director’s son, producer Peter Chomsky, confirmed his father’s death at age 92 to multiple outlets this week, includingVariety.
Chomsky died in his sleep on Monday, Peter toldDeadline. He also revealed toThe Hollywood Reporterthat his father’s death was a result of natural causes, and occurred at a hospice facility in Santa Monica, California.
“Marvin Chomsky made a difference in our world using the medium of motion pictures to both entertain and educate viewers,” Peter toldThe Wrap.
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Leonard Nimoy, Marvin Chomsky and William Shatner at the 1982 Emmy Awards.George Long /Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
A cousin of linguist Noam Chomsky, the late director was born in New York City in 1929 and attended Syracuse University, graduating in 1950.
He began his career in the late 1950s as a set decorator and art director — notably, he took on the latter role for episodes ofGunsmokein the 1960s.
Chomsky would go on to rack up more than 60 directing credits and several producing credits over the span of his career, until his retirement in 1995.
Aside from his work onStar Trek,GunsmokeandRoots, another of Chomsky’s notable directing credits includes episodes ofHawaii Five-Oin the early 1970s. He took home Emmys forHolocaust(1978),Attica(1980),Inside the Third Reich(1982), andPeter The Great(1986).
After winning his third Emmy, forInside the Third Reich, Chomsky remarked that the events behind the projects — referring to the Holocaust, Attica prison riot and Nazis in Germany — “never should have happened.”
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During a a 2007 interview for the Television Academy, the lateJoseph M. Wilcots, who was nominated for an Emmy forRoots, said, “Marvin Chomsky was a brilliant director who always thought his shots out very clearly.”
“His direction, to me, was always precise and always clear,” Wilcots added.
source: people.com
