John Sturges

If the only filmmaking Sturges you've heard of is Preston, the American Cinematheque is about to widen your horizons by presenting "The Magnificent John Sturges" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The Cinematheque will screen a generous sample of this director's top drawer action/adventure films, including "The Magnificent Seven," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "Hour of the Gun," "Bad Day at Black Rock" and "The Law and Jake Wade."

Robert E. Relyea, who began producing films with actor Steve McQueen in the 1960s and rose to president of production for MGM/UA in the late 1990s, has died. He was 82. The Hollywood veteran, who also worked with such actors as Elvis Presley and John Wayne and directors John Sturges, Robert Wise, Peter Yates, Stanley Donen and William Wyler, died March 12 at a Thousand Oaks hospital of natural causes, his family said. Born May 3, 1930, in Santa Monica, the UCLA graduate was the third generation of his family to work in the film industry.

John Sturges, one of the last of Hollywood's old-time action directors, whose triumphs at the box-office confounded critics who tried to dismiss him as a "technician," died Tuesday at age 82. Sturges, whose pictures included "Bad Day at Black Rock," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Magnificent Seven," died of emphysema in a San Luis Obispo hospital near his retirement home, said a family spokesman.

If the only filmmaking Sturges you've heard of is Preston, the American Cinematheque is about to widen your horizons by presenting "The Magnificent John Sturges" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The Cinematheque will screen a generous sample of this director's top drawer action/adventure films, including "The Magnificent Seven," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "Hour of the Gun," "Bad Day at Black Rock" and "The Law and Jake Wade."

Robert E. Relyea, who began producing films with actor Steve McQueen in the 1960s and rose to president of production for MGM/UA in the late 1990s, has died. He was 82. The Hollywood veteran, who also worked with such actors as Elvis Presley and John Wayne and directors John Sturges, Robert Wise, Peter Yates, Stanley Donen and William Wyler, died March 12 at a Thousand Oaks hospital of natural causes, his family said. Born May 3, 1930, in Santa Monica, the UCLA graduate was the third generation of his family to work in the film industry.

Oscar-winning producer Walter Mirisch has lived the American dream. He grew up in a poor immigrant family, and despite suffering hardships during the Great Depression, he found his way to Harvard. He later went on to a storied career producing some of the finest films of the 20th century, including "West Side Story," "The Magnificent Seven" and "In the Heat of the Night." On Thursday, the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre will honor Mirisch with screenings of "The Apartment" and "In the Heat of the Night."

John Sturges hated what television did to his movies. He especially hated what pan-and-scan cropping did to his Panavision classics, such macho primers as "Bad Day at Black Rock" and "The Magnificent Seven." Looking at a letterbox laserdisc version of "Black Rock" a few months before he died in 1992, Sturges grumbled, "Pan-and-scan? It drives me nuts. All those weird moves to include whoever's talking."

SPECIALS HBO repeats "Bill Russell: My Life" (7 p.m.), a documentary about the Hall of Famer who made life miserable for the Lakers by leading the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA championships. SERIES "Biography" (8 p.m. A&E) profiles boxer Oscar De La Hoya. MOVIES Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson protect Mexican villagers from Eli Wallach in "The Magnificent Seven" (8 p.m. TNT), John Sturges' stirring remake of "The Seven Samurai." SPORTS The Dodgers visit the Milwaukee Brewers (5 p.m.

Lee H. Katzin, 67, who directed scores of TV movies and feature films, including "Le Mans," starring Steve McQueen, died of cancer Oct. 30 at his home in Beverly Hills. Born in Detroit, Katzin earned a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology from Harvard University in 1957. He started his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s as an assistant television director before working his way up to director in 1965.

Jack Wiener, 79, who co-produced "The Eagle Has Landed," "F/X" and other films, died Monday of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He also had suffered from cancer, his longtime friend Robin French said. Wiener, a native of Paris, came to the U.S. in 1949, and eventually joined MGM's publicity department. He switched to Columbia Pictures in 1960 as an advertising and, later, production executive. In 1973, he formed Kelso Productions and became an independent producer.

Oscar-winning producer Walter Mirisch has lived the American dream. He grew up in a poor immigrant family, and despite suffering hardships during the Great Depression, he found his way to Harvard. He later went on to a storied career producing some of the finest films of the 20th century, including "West Side Story," "The Magnificent Seven" and "In the Heat of the Night." On Thursday, the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre will honor Mirisch with screenings of "The Apartment" and "In the Heat of the Night."

John Sturges hated what television did to his movies. He especially hated what pan-and-scan cropping did to his Panavision classics, such macho primers as "Bad Day at Black Rock" and "The Magnificent Seven." Looking at a letterbox laserdisc version of "Black Rock" a few months before he died in 1992, Sturges grumbled, "Pan-and-scan? It drives me nuts. All those weird moves to include whoever's talking."

John Sturges, one of the last of Hollywood's old-time action directors, whose triumphs at the box-office confounded critics who tried to dismiss him as a "technician," died Tuesday at age 82. Sturges, whose pictures included "Bad Day at Black Rock," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Magnificent Seven," died of emphysema in a San Luis Obispo hospital near his retirement home, said a family spokesman.

Phillip Rock, screenwriter and novelist best known for his panoramic "Passing Bells" trilogy about an aristocratic English family and the social changes wrought by World War I, has died. He was 76. Rock died Saturday in Los Angeles of complications related to cancer, said his son, Kevin. Born in Hollywood to a show business family -- the son of Vitagraph silent film star, producer and director Joe Rock -- the writer first worked in motion pictures.

Charming as ever, James Garner sits down for a low-key chat with Robert Osborne on a new installment of the cable interview series "Private Screenings" (5 and 8 p.m., TCM). Garner, 73, who moved from Oklahoma to California in 1945 and says he "did a little bit of everything" before finally getting into acting, has always preferred work to interviews ("I got tired of talking about myself").