Biography
Elliot Silverstein (3 August 1927 – 24 November 2023) was an American film and television director. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he studied drama at Boston College before attending Yale University to train in directing. He began his career directing stage productions and moved into television in the mid-1950s, working on series including Have Gun – Will Travel, Naked City and four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1961–1964).
Silverstein made his feature directorial debut with the Academy Award-winning comedy western Cat Ballou (1965). He went on to direct The Happening (1967), A Man Called Horse (1970) and The Car (1977), among other films, and later episodes of Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Picket Fences. He played a leading role in establishing the Directors Guild of America’s Bill of Creative Rights in 1964, which secured the director’s cut as a standard contractual right.
