About

Known credits:
31
Birthday:
1931-12-15
Place of birth:
Watertown, Connecticut, USA
Website:
N/A

Ernest Pintoff

Overview

Ernest Pintoff (December 15, 1931 in Watertown, Connecticut – January 12, 2002 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles) was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer.

He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short for The Critic (1963), a satire on modern art written and narrated by Mel Brooks.

Born in Watertown, Connecticut, but raised in New York City, Pintoff originally began as a jazz trumpeter who taught painting and design at Michigan State University. However, he had always shown an interest in the animation of film and began writing in 1956.

His career took off in 1957, when he wrote the script for Flebus, followed by 1959 as a producer and director for the animated short film, The Violinist. Narrated by Carl Reiner, the film earned Pintoff an Oscar nomination and illustrated a promising young career in directing film ahead of him.

In 1964, he won an Oscar for his direction of the 1963 film, The Critic, which was narrated by co-creator Mel Brooks and focused on a man with a grumpy voice trying to understand abstractions he observes.

On television, Pintoff directed many episodes of popular television series, including Hawaii Five-O (1968), Kojak (1968), The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), The Dukes of Hazard (1979), Falcon Crest (1981) and Voyagers! (1982). As part of NBC's "Experiments in Television" in the late 1960s, he also directed the documentaries This Is Marshall McLuhan and This Is Sholem Aleichem.

Pintoff produced and directed a number of low-budget independent films such as Harvey Middleman, Fireman (1965), Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971) and Dynamite Chicken (1972), a film using a collection of old clips from music with appearances by John Lennon, Richard Pryor and Andy Warhol, Nel mirino del giaguaro (1979).

Following his last film in 1985, Pintoff taught directing at the School of Visual Arts, American Film Institute, USC School of Cinematic Arts, California Institute of the Arts and UCLA.

He received the International Animated Film Society's Winsor McCay Award for prolific lifetime contributions to animation in 1998.

Known for

Directing
1982 St. Helens Directing Director 59
Average
1981 Lunch Wagon Directing Director 58
Average
1979 Jaguar Lives! Directing Director 58
Average
1978 Human Feelings Directing Director N/A
N/A
1973 Blade Directing Director 58
Average
1971 Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? Directing Director 58
Average
1971 Dynamite Chicken Directing Director 58
Average
1967 This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage Directing Director N/A
N/A
1965 Harvey Middleman, Fireman Directing Director 58
Average
1963 The Critic Directing Director 59
Average
1962 The Old Man and the Flower Directing Director N/A
N/A
1960 The Interview Directing Director 58
Average
1959 The Violinist Directing Director 58
Average
1958 Blues Pattern Directing Director N/A
N/A
1957 Flebus Directing Director N/A
N/A
1956 The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show Directing Director 70
Good
1956 Fight On For Old Directing Director N/A
N/A

Writing
1973 Blade Writing Writer 58
Average
1971 Dynamite Chicken Writing Writer 58
Average
1967 This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage Writing Teleplay N/A
N/A
1965 Harvey Middleman, Fireman Writing Writer 58
Average
1962 The Old Man and the Flower Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1959 The Violinist Writing Writer 58
Average

Production
1973 Blade Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1971 Dynamite Chicken Production Producer 58
Average
1967 This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage Production Producer N/A
N/A
1963 The Critic Production Producer 59
Average

Sound
1965 Harvey Middleman, Fireman Sound Music 58
Average
1963 The Critic Sound Sound 59
Average
1959 The Violinist Sound Music 58
Average

Art
1956 The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show Art Art Designer 70
Good