Dan Curtis Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Dan Curtis
Born	Daniel Mayer Cherkoss (1927-08-12)August 12, 1927 Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	March 27, 2006(2006-03-27) (aged 78) Brentwood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, producer
Spouse(s)	Norma Mae Klein (m. 1952⁠–⁠2006) (her death)
Children	3

Daniel Mayer Cherkoss (born August 12, 1927 – died March 27, 2006), known as Dan Curtis, was an American director, writer, and producer for television and movies. He was famous for creating the spooky TV show Dark Shadows (1966–71). He also directed big miniseries about World War II, like The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988).

Dan Curtis was also well-known among horror film fans for his scary TV shows and movies. These included The Night Stalker (1972), The Night Strangler (1973), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1974), and Trilogy of Terror (1975). He also directed three feature films: House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971), which were based on Dark Shadows, and the supernatural horror movie Burnt Offerings (1976).

Curtis was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series for War and Remembrance. He also won an award from the Directors Guild of America for his excellent directing on that show.

Dan Curtis's Career in Film and TV
Dan Curtis's Life Story
Filmography
- As Director
- As Producer
See also

Dan Curtis's Career in Film and TV

Dan Curtis made many scary films and TV shows. Some of his famous horror works include House of Dark Shadows, Night of Dark Shadows, and The Night Stalker. The Night Stalker was a very popular TV movie and led to the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Other scary titles he worked on were Intruders, The Night Strangler, Burnt Offerings, and Trilogy of Terror with its later sequel Trilogy of Terror II. He often worked with science fiction and horror writers Richard Matheson and William F. Nolan.

Bringing Classic Horror to Life

Curtis produced and directed several TV versions of classic horror stories. These include The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968), Frankenstein (1973), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), Dracula (1974), and The Turn of the Screw (1974).

Stories from His Own Life

In 1978, Dan Curtis made a different kind of film. He wrote, produced, and directed a heartwarming TV movie for NBC called When Every Day Was the Fourth of July. This movie was partly based on his own childhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut, during the 1930s. It was meant to be a pilot for a TV series, but the series wasn't picked up. So, Curtis made a sequel in 1980 called The Long Days of Summer, which aired on ABC.

Epic War Stories

His 1983 miniseries The Winds of War was one of the most-watched miniseries in American TV history. It was nominated for four Emmy Awards. Curtis also directed War and Remembrance, which continued the story from The Winds of War. This show was very long, about 30 hours in total, and was shown in two parts in 1988 and 1989. It received 15 Emmy Award nominations and won Emmys for best miniseries, special effects, and editing.

The Legacy of Dark Shadows

The rights to Dark Shadows are still owned by Dan Curtis's family. They made a deal with Warner Bros. for a new Dark Shadows movie. This film starred Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins and was directed by Tim Burton. It came out in May 2012, and at the end of the movie, there is a special message honoring Dan Curtis. In 2023, he was added to the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.

Dan Curtis's Life Story

Dan Curtis was born Daniel Cherkoss in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He went to Syracuse University before he started selling TV shows. Dan Curtis passed away on March 27, 2006, at his home in Brentwood, California. This was just twenty days after his wife, Norma, had passed away. He had two daughters.

Filmography

Here are some of the projects Dan Curtis directed or produced:

As Director

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1968-1969	Dark Shadows	yes (20 episodes)	yes	yes
1970	House of Dark Shadows	yes	no	yes
1971	Night of Dark Shadows	yes	yes	yes
1973	The Night Strangler	yes	no	yes
1973	The Norliss Tapes	yes	no	yes
1973	The Invasion of Carol Enders	yes	no	yes	uncredited
1974	Scream of the Wolf	yes	no	yes
1974	Bram Stoker's Dracula	yes	no	yes
1974	Melvin Purvis: G-Man	yes	no	yes
1974	The Turn of the Screw	yes	no	yes
1974	The Wide World of Mystery	yes (episode: “Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest”)	yes (2 episodes)	yes
1974	The Great Ice Rip-Off	yes	no	yes
1975	Trilogy of Terror	yes	no	yes
1975	The Kansas City Massacre	yes	no	yes
1976	Burnt Offerings	yes	yes	yes
1977	Dead of Night	yes	no	yes
1977	Curse of the Black Widow	yes	no	yes
1978	When Every Day Was the Fourth of July	yes	yes	yes
1979	The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang	yes	no	no
1980	The Long Days of Summer	yes	no	no	Executive Producer
1983	The Winds of War (miniseries)	yes	no	yes
1988	War and Remembrance	yes	yes	no	Executive Producer
1992	Intruders (miniseries)	yes	no	no	Executive Producer
1993	Me and the Kid	yes	no	no
1996	Trilogy of Terror II	yes	yes	no
1998	The Love Letter	yes	no	no
2005	Saving Milly	yes	no	no
2005	Our Fathers	yes	no	no

As Producer

Year	Title	Notes
1968	The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1972	The Night Stalker	first Kolchak film
1973	Frankenstein	also co-writer
1973	The Picture of Dorian Gray	an entry in ABC's series The Movie of the Week
1991	Dark Shadows	re-imagining of the 1966–71 series

Dan Curtis facts for kids

Contents