Gil Cates

About Gil

• Professor

Biography

Gil Cates held the position of Dean of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television (which he founded) from 1990-1998. He also served two terms as President of the Directors Guild of America, from 1983 to 1987, and as a Board Member or officer of the Board since 1975. He has served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Guild since 1997. Currently presiding as the Producing Director of the Geffen Playhouse, he is dedicated to enriching the Los Angeles theatrical spectrum by presenting the finest in contemporary and classical theater.

Cates is recognized as a leader in theater, film and television. In the early years of his career he produced and directed many plays on and off Broadway. Some gems included: “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running,” starring Martin Balsam, Eileen Heckart, and George Grizzard; “I Never Sang for My Father,” starring Hal Holbrook, Lillian Gish, Alan Webb, and Teresa Wright; “Voices,” starring Julie Harris and Richard Kiley; and “Tricks of the Trade,” starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere.

Cates most recently directed Jeffrey Hatcher’s “A Picasso,” starring Roma Downey and Peter Michael Goetz, for the Geffen Playhouse. In 2006 he directed a new adaptation of Lerner & Loewe’s “Paint Your Wagon” and in September, 2002, David Eldridge’s “Under the Blue Sky.” He directed “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 2005 as the inaugural production in the newly-renovated Playhouse.

Cates moved onto the big screen in 1970 when he produced and directed the film version of “I Never Sang for My Father,” starring Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons, which earned three Academy Award nominations. He also directed Joanne Woodward and Sylvia Sidney in the 1973 film “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams,” which received two nominations. Other film directing credits include: “The Promise,” “One Summer Love,” “The Last Married Couple in America,” “Oh! God Book II” and “Backfire.”

Cates has also distinguished himself as the director and/or producer of a number of television specials. These include 11 years as Executive Producer of “An American Celebration at Ford’s Theatre,” a live one hour television special on ABC; NBC’s 1972 Emmy Award-winning “To All My Friends on Shore,” starring Bill Cosby; ABC’s 1974 “The Affair” starring Nathalie Wood and Robert Wagner; NBC’s 1975 “After the Fall” starring Faye Dunaway and Christopher Plummer.

Other television credits include: “Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,” “The Kid from Nowhere,” “Country Gold,” “Faerie Tale Theatre’s” “Rapunzel” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears;” “Hobson’s Choice,” “Burning Rage,” “Consenting Adults,” “Fatal Judgment,” “Do You Know the Muffin Man,” “Call Me Anna,” “Absolute Strangers,” “In My Daughter’s Name” and “Tom Clancy’s Netforce.” He directed James Agee’s “A Death in the Family” for Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection on PBS. His most recent small screen project was a hi-definition adaptation of “Collected Stories” for PBS Hollywood Presents.

Cates recently produced the “80th Annual Academy Awards” show for ABC, his 14th stint producing the Oscar telecast, for which he has garnered numerous Emmy Awards and nominations.

Cates is only the third person in history to receive the DGA’s Presidents Award. In 1989, he also received the Guild’s Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service and in 1991 its Honorary Life Membership. In early 2005, Cates was awarded the American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governor’s Award and in November 1996was the recipient of the Jimmy Dolittle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater. In 1999, Cates received the Ovation Award for best play for directing “Collected Stories,” starring Linda Lavin and Samantha Mathis.In 2005, he was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the Motion Picture category.

Gil Cates was born in New York City. Married to Dr. Judith Reichman, he has four children, two stepchildren and is a grandfather of six.