Sam Strangis, ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ and ‘CSI’ Producer, Dies at 95
Sam Strangis, the Emmy-nominated producer, director and studio executive who worked on Batman, The Six Million Dollar Man and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation during his five-decade career, has died. He was 95.
Strangis died July 23 of kidney failure at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, California, a family spokesperson announced.
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As head of production at Paramount Studios starting in the late 1960s, Strangis guided such memorable series as Mannix, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, Love, American Style and Mission: Impossible.
With then-producing partner Don Boyle, he exited Paramount in 1974 to produce ABC’s new The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, for Universal Television. He followed by shepherding telefilms before returning to Paramount as vice president of TV production.
He would leave the studio again, this time to launch Ten-Four Productions, an independent production company that made such TV movies as 1978’s Rainbow (the story of Judy Garland as a young star), 1991’s Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story and 1993’s The Rainbow Warrior.
Strangis concluded his career by producing CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation during its first two seasons (2000-02) and the spinoff CSI: Miami during its first season (2002-03). In 2002, he shared an Emmy nomination for best drama series for the flagship.
Born on June 19, 1929, in Tacoma, Washington, he began his career as a script supervisor at Revue Studios. That led to him directing episodes of the 1957-59 NBC series The Restless Gun, a post-Civil War Western that starred John Payne.
After serving as a production manager and directing nine third-season episodes of ABC’s Batman from 1966-68 — he also worked on the 1966 feature — he began his first stint at Paramount.
Survivors include his wife, Bonnie (they married in 1968); daughter Debi; sons Gary, a producer (The Practice), and Greg, a writer and producer (Eight Is Enough, Falcon Crest); sisters Judy (an actress) and Cindy; five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Services were held Aug. 22 at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Brentwood.
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