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Director

William Dear

Bio

WILLIAM DEAR was born in Toronto, Canada in 1944. In 1955, his family moved to the United States settling in Dearborn, Michigan. Dear attended Fordson High School and Central Michigan University, where he majored in art with a minor in theater.

Dear began making films when he was twelve-years-old. Armed with a borrowed 8mm camera, he and his friend Robert Dyke made “home movies” throughout their teens. Always a movie buff, Dear spent Saturdays at the Uptown Theater, which his mother managed, watching the same movie all day long.

In 1969, Dear directed a short film entitled MR. GREY, co-written with Robert Dyke. It won a Special Jury Award Gold Medal at the first Atlantic Film Festival. Dear continued to work in film in Detroit in various capacities: writing, directing and photographing commercials, documentaries, industrials, as well as independent projects.

In 1977, Dear teamed up with musician Michael Nesmith which led to the collaboration on a series of short films, RIO, CRUISIN, MICHAEL NESMITH IN ELEPHANT PARTS, a rock video which received a number of prestigious awards, including a Grammy Award (the first ever, for “Video of the Year”), “Best Director” and “Best Made for Home Video Award” by Video Review Magazine and the Silver Venue Award at the Houston International Film Festival.

TIMERIDER, THE ADVENTURE OF LYLE SWANN was Dear’s first feature film. He again directed and co-wrote the comedy-adventure with Nesmith, who composed the score. Throughout this period, Dear directed and shot commercials for which he received two Directors Guild of America nominations, in 1983 and 1985. He also directed and co-wrote a series of comedy films for Playboy Productions, directed the Firesign Theater’s comedy film, NICK DANGER –THE CASE OF THE MISSING YOLK, and the NBC comedy pilot TELEVISION PARTS.

Dear’s feature film HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS was released in June 1987 and went on to win an Oscar for Rick Baker’s creation of “Harry” the friendly Bigfoot. The film also won the Genesis award as Best Comedy Film 1987 dealing with issues on Animal Rights and awards as the best family film of 1987 from both the Family Academy and the British Video Association.

In 1988, Dear directed HOLLYWOOD DOG, a Roger Rabbit type adventure/television pilot for ABC, combining live action and animation.

Dear then went on in 1989 to direct the action adventure IF LOOKS COULD KILL starring Richard Greico, Linda Hunt, Roger Rees and Roger Daltrey for Warner Bros. Dear also co-wrote THE ROCKETEER, an action adventure film for Walt Disney Productions that was released in 1991.

Dear then directed the television pilot for ABC and Jim Henson Productions hit show DINOSAURS, as well as the ABC TV pilot called COVINGTON CROSS, a medieval action-adventure comedy.

In 1994, Walt Disney Pictures released ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, which Dear directed, starring Danny Glover, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Christopher Lloyd. Other features include BALLOON FARM and SANTA WHO? for THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY, and Dear received his third Directors Guild of America nomination for his direction of SANTA WHO?.

Other feature film credits include WILD AMERICA, SCHOOL OF LIFE, SIMON SAYS, THE FOURSOME, THE SANDLOT: HEADING HOME and most recently THE PERFECT GAME.

When not writing or painting at home in Santa Barbara, Dear shares his time between Los Angeles and Canada pursuing his love of filmmaking.

Director- Job Description

The principal creative artist on a movie set. A director is usually (but not always) the driving artistic source behind the filming process, and communicates to actors the way that he/she would like a particular scene played. A director's duties might also include casting, script editing, shot selection, shot composition, and editing. Typically, a director has complete artistic control over all aspects of the movie, but it is not uncommon for the director to be bound by agreements with either a producer or a studio. In some large productions, a director will delegate less important scenes to a second unit director 2UD.