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Reza Badiyi

Reza Sayed Badiyi (also known as Reza Badiei; Persian: رضا بدیعی; April 17, 1930 – August 20, 2011) was an Iranian-born American film and television director. His credits also include developing the title sequence montages for Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Get Smart, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Reza Badiyi

(1930-04-17)April 17, 1930

August 20, 2011(2011-08-20) (aged 81)

Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Reza Badiei

1960s–2006

Gwendolyn Davis
(divorced)
(m. 1968; div. 1985)
Tania Harley
(m. 1987)

3

Early life and education[edit]

Badiyi was born April 17, 1930, in Arak, Pahlavi Iran.[1] His parents were from Isfahan, Iran. He graduated from the Academy of Drama in Iran. He worked with the Audio Visual Department in Tehran, (Honarhayeh Zeeba), and completed 24 documentary films, prior to leaving the country.[2]


Badiyi moved to the United States in 1955, in order to continue his film studies at Syracuse University.[1] He was invited by the United States Department of State to continue his studies in America after winning an international film award for Flood in Khuzestan.[1] He graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in filmmaking.

Career[edit]

Badiyi moved to Kansas to work for Calvin Co., an industrial film production company.[3][4] Badiyi often worked with Robert Altman. Badiyi was assistant director on the low-budget 1957 film The Delinquents, which marked Altman's feature film debut as a director and the cult classic horror film Carnival of Souls, made in 1962.[5]


Early in his career, he directed episodes of Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, The Incredible Hulk, Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man, Starsky & Hutch, The Rockford Files and Police Squad!. He also directed the definitive "fashion show" sequence of the third season of the popular Doris Day Show. Perhaps his most famous work was crafting the briskly-edited title visualisation (i.e., the opening and closing credits with theme music) for the original Hawaii Five-O. There were lowlights, as well, including directing the unsold pilot for Inside O.U.T., a spy-oriented comedy executive produced by Harry Ackerman and starring Bill Daily, Alan Oppenheimer, a then-up-and-coming Farrah Fawcett and a chimp for Screen Gems in 1971.


In the 1980s and 1990s, he directed episodes of Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita, Sliders and Baywatch and Early Edition.


Badiyi set a Directors Guild of America record for directing the most hours of episodic series television ever.[3]

Awards[edit]

In the mid-1970s he received the Golden Ribbon of Art award from the reigning Shah of Iran.[2][6] He later won various awards, including the Humanitas Prize for an episode of Cagney and Lacey. He was honored by the Directors Guild of America for directing over 400 hours of television. In May 2010, Badiyi was honored at UCLA for his 80th birthday and his 60th year in the entertainment industry. In 2009, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles, and after his passing in 2011, the festival made the award his namesake.

Filmography[edit]

Director[edit]

This is list showing a selection of entertainment directed by Reza Badiyi, in order by start date. He directed more than 430 television episodes from 1963 onward.[6]

at IMDb

Reza Badiei

at Memory Alpha

Reza Badiyi

Cover story: Reza Badiei - The last TV tycoon

OCPC Magazine

Veteran TV director Reza Badiei feted