Lewis Teague

Extremely efficient and underrated director Lewis Teague was born on March 8th, 1938, in Brooklyn, NY. He apprenticed with director Sydney Pollack at Universal Television, and was a production manager on the landmark rock concert documentary Woodstock (1970). Teague found gainful employment working for legendary producer Roger Corman throughout the 1970s: he handled second-unit director chores on Death Race 2000 (1975), Thunder and Lightning (1977) and Avalanche (1978) and served as an editor for Monte Hellman's outstanding Cockfighter (1974) and Jonathan Demme's delightful Crazy Mama (1975). Teague also tackled second-unit director responsibilities on Samuel Fuller's classic World War II epic The Big Red One (1980). Teague made his feature debut as the co-director of the entertainingly trashy Dirty O'Neil (1974). He followed this with the lively Depression-era crime exploitation winner The Lady in Red (1979), which he also edited. The witty horror-creature feature Alligator (1980) and the gritty urban vigilante opus Fighting Back: The Story of Rocky Bleier (1980) were likewise solid and satisfying movies. Teague directed two superior Stephen King adaptations in the 1980s, the terrifying Cujo (1983) and the immensely enjoyable anthology outing Cat's Eye (1985). His other films include the fun Romancing the Stone (1984) sequel The Jewel of the Nile (1985), the exciting action romp Navy Seals (1990), the cool futuristic sci-fi offering Wedlock (1991) and the nifty made-for-TV supernatural shocker The Triangle (2001). In addition to his film work, Teague has directed episodes of such TV shows as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962), Barnaby Jones (1973), Shannon's Deal (1990), Profiler (1996) and Nash Bridges (1996). After a regrettable five-year absence from directing, Lewis Teague made a welcome comeback with the dramatic short Cante Jondo (2007).