James Goldstone

Who was James Goldstone?

James Goldstone was an American film director and television director during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

Goldstone was noted for the momentum and "fifteen-minute cliffhangers" that he brought to TV pilots such as Star Trek, Ironside, and The Senator. His later career helped pioneer the concept of "thirty-second attention span" pacing over detailed content in his dramatizations of Rita Hayworth, Calamity Jane, and the Kent State shootings for which he won the Emmy.

During his Hollywood career, he directed Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Robert Shaw, Jerry Orbach, Richard Dreyfuss and Sidney Poitier and collaborated with composer and musician, Lalo Schifrin. He "discovered" Tiny Tim. In addition to his work in film and television, Goldstone was a longtime leader in the Director's & Writers Guilds. In his later life, he taught both at Bennington College and in the masters program at NYU Film School. During the 1990s he directed a number of theatrical productions in New England.