TV director and screenwriter Ralph Senensky was born on May 1, 1923. Today he celebrates his 100th … [+]
From Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, The Fugitive and Dynasty to lighter family-themed comedic programming like The Partridge Family, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and Nanny and The Professor. If you are wondering what these TV series have in common (not to mention countless others), each had episodes directed by Ralph Senensky.
Today we wish Mr. Senensky a Happy 100th Birthday.
Senensky made his foray into the world of episodic television in 1958 as a production supervisor and production coordinator in four episodes of the anthology drama series Playhouse 90. Earlier in his career he studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and worked as a stage director before directing for television.
Segueing into his role as a TV director with five episodes of the medical drama Dr. Kildare, starring Richard Chamberlain, in 1961, he honed his early directing chops in 1960s dramas like Checkmate, 12 O’Clock High, The Big Valley, Mission: Impossible, Ironside and Mannix.
No doubt a crowning achievement, Senensky directed seven episodes of the original Star Trek, encompassing episodes from all three seasons of the landmark science fiction drama.
On the set of the TV series Star Trek (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
By the 1970s his resume as a director was peppered with episodes of series like family dramas like The Waltons, The Family Holvak and Eight Is Enough; crime dramas The Rookies, Barnaby Jones and The Blue Knight; and the medical drama Trapper John, M.D.
If you are fan of The Waltons, you will certainly remember famed actress Beulah Bondi, then age 88, winning an Emmy Award for her guest appearance in the episode titled “The Pony Cart” in 1977. Senensky directed that episode as well.
By the 1980s, Senensky was active behind the scenes of episodes of dramas Lou Grant, Young Maverick and the aforementioned Dynasty, among others.
(Original Caption) Nancy Marchand plays Mrs. Margaret Pynchon, the tough publisher of the Los … [+]
In the mid-1980s, he briefly returned to the theater, where he directed the plays You Can’t Take It With You and Watch on the Rhine. And Senensky capped off his illustrious career on television directing seven episodes of drama The Paper Chase, based on the movie of the same name, in the 1985-86 season.
circa 1978: Actors John Houseman (1902 – 1988) as Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. and James … [+]
“Directing episodic television is like jumping on a freight train in motion,” Ralph Senensky once said. “As a director, you have to jump on and not break your legs. Once you’ve boarded it, you must climb on top of the train and run across, get into the engine and take over running it. Much of what happens is that before you can bring anything personal to a story — which you have to do — you have to get acquainted with who the people are. That’s not in terms of who you want them to be but who they already are, because you catch them as ongoing, already established characters.”
“You do that and then you can start to find the warts and different things to do, finding outlets and ways that you can extend and expand,” he added.
Ralph Senensky at work on the one the dozens of TV series he directed.
In 2013, Senensky directed his first film project in more than two decades, an independent production titled The Right Regrets.
Today, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of this famed TV director, we celebrate the life and career of Ralph Senensky.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcberman1/2023/05/01/celebrating-100-years-ralph-senensky-tv-director-reaches-the-century-mark/