About

Known credits:
54
Birthday:
1926-12-23
Place of birth:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Website:
N/A

Jac Venza

Overview

Jac Venza was a public television producer who was directly responsible for most of the theatre and music programs that have been seen on PBS since its creation in 1970. From the early 1960s until his retirement in 2005, Venza brought such programs as NET Playhouse, Live from Lincoln Center, American Playhouse, American Masters, and Great Performances to millions of viewers. He won a Personal Peabody Award in 1998.

He began his career on CBS in the 1950s, where he began to notice the scarcity of programming devoted to the fine arts on television. It was his dream to bring more of it to the home screen on a regular basis, but he did not receive a full opportunity to do so until the creation of National Educational Television, where it soon became possible, thanks largely to Venza, to see great dramatic literature regularly performed by some of the world's most renowned actors. A then-unknown Dustin Hoffman made his first major television appearance in a play - Ronald Ribman's The Journey of the Fifth Horse - on NET in 1966. NET Playhouse was perhaps the first television anthology to present commercial-free, full-length productions (rather than one-hour or ninety-minute adaptations) of theatrical classics such as Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. When NET became PBS, Venza quickly launched Great Performances, which is still running today.

Upon his retirement from PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Venza the Ralph Lowell medal. He held the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual - 57 - until 2010.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Known for

Production
2004 Broadway: The American Musical Production Executive Producer 70
Good
2002 The Topdog Diaries Production Executive Producer N/A
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2002 The Women Production Executive Producer N/A
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2002 Fosse Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1999 Crazy For You Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1999 Andrea Bocelli - Sacred Arias Production Executive Producer 61
Fair
1995 Two by Dove Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1994 The World of Jim Henson Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1992 Kiss, Kiss, Dahlings Production Executive Producer N/A
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1991 The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez Production Co-Producer 58
Average
1989 Broadway's Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1987 Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Natica Jackson Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1983 Alice in Wonderland Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1982 Fifth of July Production Executive Producer 58
Average
1982 Working Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1982 Carl Sandburg: Echoes and Silences Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1982 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf Production Associate Producer 59
Average
1982 The Shady Hill Kidnapping Production Executive Producer N/A
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1981 Brideshead Revisited Production Executive Producer 74
Good
1981 Guests of the Nation Production Executive Producer N/A
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1979 The Five Forty-Eight Production Executive Producer N/A
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1979 O Youth and Beauty! Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1979 The Sorrows of Gin Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1979 Uncommon Women and Others Production Executive Producer N/A
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1978 Mourning Becomes Electra Production Producer N/A
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1978 The Good Doctor Production Producer 59
Average
1978 Tartuffe Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1978 The Trial of the Moke Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1977 Hard Times Production Producer 69
Fair
1976 The Patriots Production Executive Producer N/A
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1976 The Adams Chronicles Production Executive Producer 69
Fair
1975 Beyond the Horizon Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1975 The School for Scandal Production Producer N/A
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1975 The Year of the Dragon Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1974 Feasting with Panthers Production Executive Producer N/A
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1974 In Fashion Production Executive Producer N/A
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1974 June Moon Production Executive Producer N/A
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1974 Enemies Production Executive Producer N/A
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1974 A Touch of the Poet Production Executive Producer N/A
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1972 The Rimers of Eldritch Production Executive Producer N/A
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1972 Home Production Producer 59
Average
1971 Hogan's Goat Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1971 The Great Radio Comedians Production Producer 59
Average
1971 Paradise Lost Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1971 A Memory of Two Mondays Production Executive Producer N/A
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1970 Dragon Country Production Executive Producer 59
Average
1969 Let Me Hear You Whisper Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1966 An Enemy of the People Production Executive Producer N/A
N/A
1966 The Star Wagon Production Producer 59
Average
1966 The Journey of the Fifth Horse Production Producer N/A
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1966 Ten Blocks on the Camino Real Production Executive Producer N/A
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1966 Ten Blocks on the Camino Real Production Producer N/A
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Art
1961 24 Hours in a Woman's Life Art Production Design N/A
N/A
1958 Wonderful Town Art Production Design 59
Average