# Richard C. Sarafian

Richard Caspar Sarafian (April 28, 1930 – September 18, 2013) was an Armenian-American film director and actor. He compiled a versatile career that spanned over five decades as a director, actor, and writer. Sarafian is best known as the director of the 1971 film Vanishing Point and the classic The Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll".

## Biography

Sarafian was born in New York City on April 28, 1930, to Armenian immigrants. He studied pre-law and pre-med at New York University and was a poor student, but changed over to studying film, at which he excelled. He left college to join the United States Army, in which he served as a reporter for an Army news service. While stationed in Kansas City, Missouri during the Korean War (1950–1953) he met the future Hollywood director Robert Altman, and the two became friends.
Sarafian worked with Altman on industrial films and married Altman's sister, Helen Joan Altman. He also acted in a local play Altman directed. His television career began in the early 1960s in Kansas City as Altman's assistant. Sarafian soon began to direct television shows, and in 1963, he scored one of his great successes as director of the "Living Doll" episode of The Twilight Zone. His first feature film was Andy in 1965. His greatest success as a feature film director came with Vanishing Point, an existential road movie that followed a man driving a white Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours; critics disliked the movie, but it became a cult hit.
Besides The Twilight Zone, Sarafian's directing credits on television included episodes of Gunsmoke and Batman. In addition to Andy and Vanishing Point, he directed a number of feature films, including Run Wild, Run Free in 1969, Man in the Wilderness in 1971, and The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing in 1973. In his film acting career, he played a gangster in Bugsy in 1991, Paul Castellano in Gotti, and a hitman in Bulworth in 1998, and in 2001 he voiced the animated God Beaver character in Dr. Dolittle 2. On television, he played a coffee shop owner as a regular member of the cast of the 1985–1986 sitcom Foley Square.

## Personal life

Sarafian and Helen Altman Sarafian married, divorced, and remarried; she died in 2011. They had five children, including actor Richard Sarafian Jr., actor/director Deran Sarafian, special effects expert Damon B. Sarafian, screenwriter Tedi Sarafian, and Catherine Sarafian.

## Death

Sarafian died at the age of 83 in Santa Monica, California, on September 18, 2013, of pneumonia, which he contracted while recovering from a broken back.

## Filmography
### Film

Director
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 1962 | Terror at Black Falls | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1965 | Andy | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1969 | Run Wild, Run Free | Yes | No | No |
| 1970 | Fragment of Fear | Yes | No | No |
| 1971 | Vanishing Point | Yes | No | No |
| 1971 | Man in the Wilderness | Yes | No | No |
| 1973 | Lolly-Madonna XXX | Yes | No | No |
| 1973 | The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing | Yes | No | No |
| 1976 | The Next Man | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1979 | Sunburn | Yes | No | No |
| 1981 | Gangster Wars | Yes | No | No |
| 1984 | The Bear | Yes | No | No |
| 1986 | Eye of the Tiger | Yes | No | No |
| 1987 | Street Justice | Yes | No | No |
| 1990 | Solar Crisis | Yes | No | No |
* ↑ Credited as Alan Smithee
Actor
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1956 | The Magic Bond | | Short |
| 1976 | The Next Man | Gregory Zolnikov | uncredited |
| 1984 | Songwriter | Rodeo Rocky | |
| 1986 | Alien Predator | Capt. J.J. Wells | voice, uncredited |
| 1987 | Street Justice | Taxi Driver | |
| 1989 | To Die For | Bartender | |
| 1991 | Bugsy | Jack Dragna | |
| 1992 | Ruby | Proby | |
| 1994 | Gunmen | Chief Chavez | |
| 1994 | Roadflower | Trucker | |
| 1995 | Don Juan DeMarco | Detective Sy Tobias | |
| 1995 | The Crossing Guard | Sunny Ventura | |
| 1996 | Bound | Gino Marzzone | |
| 1998 | Bulworth | Vinnie | |
| 1999 | Blink of an Eye | Erlik | |
| 1999 | Blue Streak | Uncle Lou | |
| 2000 | Picking Up the Pieces | Wino | |
| 2001 | Dr. Dolittle 2 | God Beaver | voice |
| 2002 | Hitters | | |
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | President | |
| 2007 | Reeling | Teeth | voice, short |

### Television
#### TV series

Director
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1961 | Maverick | episode: "The Forbidden City" |
| 1961 | Bronco | episode: "Guns of the Lawless" |
| 1961 | Surfside 6 | episode: "Count Seven!" |
| 1961 | The Roaring 20's | episode: "Blondes Prefer Gentlemen" |
| 1961–1962 | Lawman | 22 episodes |
| 1961–1962 | Cheyenne | 2 episodes |
| 1962 | Hawaiian Eye | 2 episodes |
| 1962–1963 | The Dakotas | 3 episodes |
| 1962–1963 | The Gallant Men | 9 episodes |
| 1962–1963 | 77 Sunset Strip | 3 episodes |
| 1963 | Redigo | episode: "Lady War-Bonnet" |
| 1963 | The Great Adventure | episode: "Six Wagons to the Sea" |
| 1963 | The Twilight Zone | episode: "Living Doll" |
| 1963 | Bonanza | episode: "The Waiting Game" |
| 1963–1965 | Ben Casey | 3 episodes |
| 1964 | Dr. Kildare | episode: "An Exchange of Gifts" |
| 1965 | Slattery's People | 4 episodes |
| 1965 | The Wild Wild West | 2 episodes |
| 1965 | Convoy | episode: "Lady on the Rock" |
| 1965 | The Long, Hot Summer | episode: "Home Is a Nameless Place" |
| 1965 | The Big Valley | episode: "Winner Lose All" |
| 1965 | The Wackiest Ship in the Army | episode: "The Stowaway" |
| 1965–1968 | Gunsmoke | 4 episodes |
| 1966 | The Trials of O'Brien | episode: "Alarums and Excursions" |
| 1966 | Batman | 2 episodes |
| 1966 | Jericho | 5 episodes |
| 1966 | The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. | episode: "The Romany Lie Affair" |
| 1966–1968 | I Spy | 8 episodes |
| 1967 | Iron Horse | episode: "Consignment, Betsy the Boiler" |
| 1967 | The Guns of Will Sonnett | 3 episodes |
| 1967 | Cimarron Strip | episode: "The Battle of Bloody Stones" |
| 1967–1968 | The Danny Thomas Hour | 2 episodes |
| 1968 | Premiere | |
| 1975 | Doctors' Hospital | episode: "One of Our Own" |
| 1981 | The Gangster Chronicles | miniseries |
| 1981 | Shannon | 2 episodes |
| 1982 | The Mississippi | episode: "The Mississippi" |
| 1985 | Wildside | 3 episodes |
| 1990 | Zorro | episode: "Zorro: The Legend Continues" (unaired TV pilot) |
Actor
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1985–1986 | Foley Square | Spiro Papadopolis | 14 episodes |
| 1989 | Wiseguy | | episode: "Le Lacrime D'Amore: Part 2" |
| 1990 | MacGyver | Caspar Kasabian | episode: "Bitter Harvest" |
| 1997 | Michael Hayes | Restaurant Owner | episode: "Retribution" |

#### TV movies

Director
* Shadow on the Land (1968)
* One of Our Own (1975)
* The African Queen (1977)
* A Killing Affair (1977)
* Disaster on the Coastliner (1977)
* The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980)
* Splendor in the Grass (1981)
* Liberty (1986)
Actor
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1986 | Long Time Gone | Omar | |
| 1986 | Liberty | Philbert Evans | |
| 1993 | Sex, Love and Cold Hard Cash | Abe | Uncredited |
| 1996 | Miami Hustle | Henry Kronfeld | |
| 1996 | Gotti | Paul Castellano | |

## Awards

* Nominee, Gold Hugo, Best Feature Film – Chicago International Film Festival (The Next Man) (1976)