Arnold Laven Arnold Laven ( February 3 , 1922 – September 13 , 2009 ) was an American film and television director and producer . He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy - Gardner - Laven . Laven was a producer of , among other things , the long - running western television series " The Rifleman " and " The Big Valley " . He also directed motion pictures , including " Without Warning ! " , " The Rack " , " The Monster That Challenged the World " , " Geronimo " , " Rough Night in Jericho " , and " Sam Whiskey " . In the 1970s and early 1980s , Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series , including episodes of " Mannix " , " The A - Team " , " Hill Street Blues " , " The Six Million Dollar Man " , " Fantasy Island " , " The Rockford Files " and " CHiPs " . Early years . Laven was born in Chicago , Illinois , and moved to Los Angeles with his family in the late 1930s . He got his start in the entertainment business working as a mail room messenger at Warner Bros . First Motion Picture Unit . During World War II , Laven was assigned to the U . S . Army Air Forces ' First Motion Picture Unit , the first unit of the United States military to be made up entirely of motion picture personnel . The unit made training films from 1942 – 1945 at the old Hal Roach motion picture lot . Laven later recalled that the films they made were not " phony " Hollywood war films : " They had to be approved by the higher - ups in the Air Force . They had to be technically accurate in every possible way . " The unit included actors George Montgomery , Arthur Kennedy , Alan Ladd , William Holden , and DeForest Kelley . Army Capt . Ronald Reagan was the unit ' s personnel officer . Laven recalled that the men liked and respected Reagan , noting , " He was always a very warm , cordial , and pleasant man . " Laven described the First Motion Picture Unit as " the best film school in the world , " because participants learned all aspects of the movie industry . He even had the opportunity to work briefly in front of the camera as an extra in the pilot training short , " Live and Learn . " Post - war years . After the war , Laven continued to work in the motion picture business , holding jobs as a script supervisor , dialogue director , and film press agent . He worked on such films as William Wyler ' s " The Best Years of Our Lives " and Fred Zinnemann ' s " Teresa " . 1950s . In September 1951 , Laven formed a production company with Jules V . Levy and Arthur Gardner , both of whom he had met while working in the First Motion Picture Unit . The company , which eventually became Levy - Gardner - Laven , was initially called " Allart Pictures , Inc . " The company opened offices at Goldwyn studios and announced plans to begin casting on their first feature , " Without Warning ! " , a thriller about a psychopathic killer on the loose . Laven directed , and Adam Miller was cast as a gardener who murdered women with his garden shears . Operating on a shoe - string budget , the film was shot on the streets of Los Angeles — on the Hollywood Freeway , in Chavez Ravine , at the Produce Terminal , and plant nurseries , cocktail bars , and taxi offices . On seeing the end product , the " Los Angeles Times " reported that Laven and his partners had " succeeded in parlaying a $ 15 , 000 investment into a film production that is likely to gross well over $ 1 , 000 , 000 , so decisive is its merit . " In May 1952 , Hedda Hopper announced the arrival of the new team as follows : The trio ' s second feature was " Vice Squad " , a 1953 detective drama directed by Laven and starring Edward G . Robinson and Adam Williams . The third feature , " Down Three Dark Streets " , was another semidocumentary - style film noir starring Broderick Crawford as an FBI agent . The film ' s climax took place around the Hollywood Sign . A newspaper review of the 1954 film noted the promise of the three young producers : In 1956 , Laven went out on his own to direct " The Rack " , a drama starring Paul Newman and Lee Marvin about a soldier who is court - martialed for collaborating with the enemy after spending two years in a North Korean prison camp . The film was based on a " United States Steel Hour " program written by Rod Serling . In 1957 , Levy - Gardner - Laven team turned their focus to the popular science fiction and monster genres . Laven received directing and producing credits on " The Monster That Challenged the World " , a feature about an army of giant mollusks that emerge from the Salton Sea in California ' s Imperial Valley . A review in the " Los Angeles Times " called the film " distinctly chilling , " noted that " Laven never lets the tension slacken , " and described the plot as follows : The trio followed with a pair of vampire movies , " The Vampire " , a 1957 release about a small town doctor who mistakenly ingests an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats , and " The Return of Dracula " , a 1958 feature about a vampire who murders a Czech artist , assumes his identity , and moves to the United States . In the late 1950s , Laven also directed " Slaughter on Tenth Avenue " , a crime drama set on the docks starring Richard Egan and Walter Matthau , and " Anna Lucasta " , a feature starring an all - African American cast that included Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis , Jr . " The Rifleman " and other westerns . In 1957 , Laven and his partners were collaborating with young screenwriter , Sam Peckinpah , on an episode of " Zane Grey Theater " when Laven came up with the concept for " The Rifleman " . Looking for a hook to separate the idea from other westerns , Laven suggested that they focus on the relationship between the rifle - toting settler and his son . Laven recalled that he was " inspired by his own relationship with his son , Larry , and told writer Sam Peckinpah to develop a father - son relationship . " " The Rifleman " , with former professional baseball and basketball player Chuck Connors in the lead role , proved to be Laven ' s biggest success . The series ran from 1958 through 1963 and became one of the most successful television series of the 1960s . With the success of " The Rifleman " , the Levy - Gardner - Laven team devoted much of their efforts in the 1960s to the western genre . During the 1959 – 1960 television season , they produced " Law of the Plainsman " , a western television series starring Michael Ansara as an Apache Indian who attends Harvard University and then returns west as a Deputy Marshal in New Mexico . Laven developed a friendship with " Rifleman " star Chuck Connors . In 1962 , Laven cast Connors in the title role of the biographical film , " Geronimo " , which Laven directed and produced . After " The Rifleman " left the air , Laven returned to the western genre as the executive producer of the long - running western television series , " The Big Valley " . The series starred Barbara Stanwyck and was broadcast by ABC from 1965 to 1969 . Laven was responsible for casting Lee Majors as Stanwyck ' s son , predicting big things for the young actor : " It ' s his first appearance before a camera and I ' ll go on record as saying he ' s one of the most attractive male stars to come along in years . " Laven ' s association with the genre extended into a string of feature films . His directing credits in the western genre included " The Glory Guys " , a 1965 feature written by Sam Peckinpah about George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry Regiment , and " Rough Night in Jericho " , a 1967 western film starring Dean Martin , George Peppard , and Jean Simmons . In 1968 , Laven became one of the first directors to be confronted with cutting a scene under the newly introduced MPAA ratings system . The film was " Sam Whiskey " , a western directed by Laven and starring Burt Reynolds and Angie Dickinson as characters trying to recover $ 250 , 000 in gold bars from a steamboat wreck . The film as submitted by Laven to the MPAA included " a bare - from - the - waist - up shot " of Angie Dickinson . When faced with the prospect of an " R " rating ( at the time an entirely new concept ) , Laven substituted a tighter shot of Dickinson from the shoulders up to avoid the " R " rating . During the late 1960s and early 1970s , the Levy - Gardner - Laven team also remained active as producers on such films as " Clambake " , a 1967 Elvis Presley musical co - starring Shelley Fabares , " The Scalphunters " , an 1968 western directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Burt Lancaster , Ossie Davis and Telly Savalas , and " Kansas City Bomber " , a 1972 drama starring Raquel Welch as a roller derby athlete . Television directing . Laven was also active for more than 30 years as a director of episodic television . His television directing credits included episodes of such series as " The Rifleman " ( 21 episodes ) , " Mannix " ( 8 episodes ) , " The Greatest American Hero " ( 7 episodes ) , " The A - Team " ( 6 episodes ) , " The Big Valley " ( 6 episodes ) , " The Secrets of Isis " ( 6 episodes ) , " Eight Is Enough " ( 5 episodes ) , " Hill Street Blues " ( 3 episodes ) , " The Six Million Dollar Man " ( 3 episodes ) , " Planet of the Apes " ( 3 episodes ) , " Fantasy Island " ( 2 episodes ) , " The Rockford Files " ( 2 episodes ) , " Police Woman " ( 2 episodes ) , " Ironside " ( 2 episodes ) , and " CHiPs " ( 2 episodes ) . Death . On September 13 , 2009 , Laven died from complications of pneumonia at the Tarzana Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley . He was survived by his wife , the former Wallace Earl Sparks , a daughter and a son . Laven and his wife had been married since 1951 .