Reza Badiyi, 81, prolific director and title sequence creator
Chuck
By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times
August 22, 2011
Reza Badiyi, a prolific television director whose credits included "Get
Smart" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and who set a Directors Guild of
America record for directing the most hours of episodic series
television, has died. He was 81.
Badiyi, who had been dealing with a number of medical issues in recent
weeks, died Saturday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said
family spokeswoman Bita Milanian.
The Iranian-born Badiyi, who launched his filmmaking career making
documentaries in Iran before moving to the United States in 1955, began
directing for TV in the late 1960s.
Among his long list of credits are "Mission Impossible," "The Rockford
Files," "Baretta," "Mannix," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Six Million
Dollar Man," "The Incredible Hulk," "Cagney & Lacey," "Falcon Crest,"
"In the Heat of the Night," "Baywatch" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Badiyi also directed episodes of the original "Hawaii Five-O" and "The
Mary Tyler Moore Show" and was involved in the creation of both shows'
memorable title sequences.
In March 1998, Badiyi achieved a Directors Guild milestone for directing
the most hours of episodic series television when he finished his 400th
TV episode, for the sci-fi series "Sliders."
Badiyi's last credit as a director was the 2006 feature film "The Way
Back Home."
In 2009, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Noor Iranian
Film Festival.
A year later, members of the Iranian American community honored Badiyi
for his 80th birthday and his 60th year in the entertainment industry at
UCLA's Royce Hall.
"He was very passionate about his Persian heritage," said Milanian,
recalling that Badiyi could recite Persian poetry by heart. "Even though
he moved away from Iran, he was still very connected to his community."
Badiyi was born April 17, 1930, in Arak, Iran. He graduated from the
Academy of Drama in Iran, for which he received a Gold Medal from the
Shah of Iran for his acting.
"Later on, I went from acting to cinematography and had the honor of
being the shah's personal cinematographer and traveled all over the
country with him," he recalled in a 2009 interview with Iran Times
International.
He made 21 documentaries before moving to the United States, including
"Flood in Khuzestan," which was selected by the Red Cross for screening
internationally to generate awareness of the disastrous flooding in the
Iranian province. It also earned him the Golden Ribbon of Art from the
shah.
"When the U.S. State Department saw the documentary, they invited me to
come to the U.S. to study filmmaking," he recalled in the 2009
interview.
After studying filmmaking at Syracuse University, Badiyi moved to Kansas
City, Mo., to work at Calvin Co., a major industrial film production
company, where he met a young director named Robert Altman.
Altman, Badiyi said in the 2009 interview, became his best friend and
mentor.
Badiyi was assistant director on the low-budget 1957 film "The
Delinquents," which marked Altman's feature film debut as a director.
Badiyi was once married to actress and writer Barbara Turner and was
stepfather to actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.
He is survived by his third wife, Tania; his children, Mimi, Mina,
Alexis and Natasha; two brothers, four sisters; and two grandchildren.
Scott Brady
> Badiyi also directed episodes of the original "Hawaii Five-O" and "The
> Mary Tyler Moore Show" and was involved in the creation of both shows'
> memorable title sequences.
Instantly recognized the name from MTM.