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Finding Aid for the Daniel Petrie papers
PASC-M 262
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Title: Daniel Petrie papers
Collection number: PASC-M 262
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
29 linear ft.
(54 document boxes, 6 Paige boxes, 1 storage box)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1947-2001
Date (inclusive): 1947-2001
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Abstract: Daniel Petrie, born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia in 1920, was a Canadian film, television and stage director. This collection
comprises a wide variety of documents and objects related to his prolific career. The majority of these items relate to films
and television programs directed or produced by Petrie between 1950 and 2001. Additionally, the collection contains a variety
of personal ephemera with no direct connection to specific projects. The collection is arranged in four series: Feature Films,
Made for Television Films, Television and Stage Projects, and Personal Ephemera.
Creator:
Petrie, Daniel 1920-2004
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Daniel Petrie Papers (Collection PASC 262-M). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
This collection comprises a wide variety of documents and objects related to Daniel Petrie’s prolific career. The majority
of these items relate to films, television shows, miniseries and stage productions directed or produced by Petrie between
1947 and 2001. Such items include production reports, background research, awards, casting notes, contact sheets for cast
and crew, budget information, plot synopses, film and television reviews, scripts, publicity materials, and photographs. They
also include oversize materials such as film clappers and promotional posters. Additionally, the collection includes documents
related to film or television projects conceived by or pitched to Petrie that never ultimately came to fruition, including
scripts, correspondence and proposed budgets. Finally, the collection contains a variety of personal ephemera with no direct
connection to specific projects, including correspondence with friends and family, personal photographs, scrapbooks and press
clippings about Petrie, as well as legal documents and documents related to the Screen Director’s Guild.
Processed by Alessandra Amin in 2014 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jasmine
Jones. Processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Dorothea Petrie; 2007 and 2010.
Daniel Petrie (November 26, 1920- August 22, 2004) was a Canadian film, television and stage director. He was born the youngest
of six children in remote Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and his childhood there played an inspirational role in one of his most
successful films, the semi-autobiographical The Bay Boy (1984). After serving in the Canadian military during World War II,
Petrie enrolled at Columbia University, and, while in New York, a chance encounter with producer Herman Shumlin led to a job
as an actor in the Broadway production of "Kiss Them For Me," with Richard Widmark and Judy Holiday. His acting career was
short-lived, and after completing his doctorate at Northwestern University he took a job directing television programs at
NBC.
In 1958 Dan directed his first feature, The Bramble Bush, followed by the critically acclaimed A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.
At the Cannes Film Festival that year, A Raisin in the Sun earned a Palm d'Or nomination and secured Petrie the Gary Cooper
Award for Human Values. During these years Petrie was also involved in stage and especially television projects, directing
numerous TV programs during what is termed “the Golden Age of television” (ranging approximately from the late 1940s until
the early 1960s).
Throughout his career, Petrie continued to direct successful films and TV shows, excelling especially in the genre of made-for-television
movies. He made television history in 1977 when he directed three of the five Emmy Award nominees for Best Production- Sybil,
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years and Harry Truman: Plain Speaking. All three programs garnered Emmys, and, for
the second consecutive year, Daniel Petrie was voted Best Director by both the Academy and the Directors Guild. Through the
80s and 90s, Petrie directed a wide variety of projects, ranging from science fiction films, like Cocoon: The Return, to heartwarming
family classics, such as Lassie.
Daniel Petrie died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles in 2004. His corpus included nearly 100 directing and producing credits
at the time of his death.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
5518739