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Sam Strangis, an Emmy-nominated CSI and CSI: Miami producer and Paramount exec and whose career dates back to classic 1960s and ’70s TV shows including Batman, The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, has died. He was 95.
His family told Deadline that Strangis died July 23 of kidney failure at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, CA, but the news had not been reported.
Strangis’ TV career spanned six decades, from directing NBC’s 1957-59 antebellum western The Restless Gun through the wildly successful first two seasons of CBS’ Crime Scene Investigation and spinoff CSI: Miami. He racked up dozens of credits along the way, also serving as Paramount’s VP of TV Production in the mid-’70s.
Born on June 19, 1929, in Tacoma, WA, Strangis began his career as a script supervisor at Revue Studios, leading his directing multiple episodes The Restless Gun. He went on to serve as production manager for the entire 1966-68 run of ABC’s tongue-in-cheek superhero series Batman, also directing some episodes. The show fronted by Adam West and Burt Ward never was a ratings success but gained camp-classic status in reruns.
Strangis then moved to Paramount Studios, where he was head of production and guided such memorable series as The Odd Couple; The Brady Bunch; Love, American Style; Mannix; Mission: Impossible; Happy Days and its spinoff Laverne & Shirley.
With his then-producing partner Don Boyle, Strangis left Paramount to produce Universal’s ambitious new ABC action series The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors. He followed up with several TV movies before returning to Paramount as VP of TV Production.
Upon leaving Paramount, Strangis established Ten-Four Productions, an independent production company focused primarily on telefilms including Rainbow — the story of Judy Garland as a young star — Rainbow Warrior and Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story.
But Strangis’ biggest successes came late in his career.
He was a co-executive producer on the first two seasons of CBS’ smash drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from 2000-02. The franchise-spawning series starring William Peterson and Marg Helgenberger just missed the year-end primetime Top 10 in its rookie year and finished at No. 2 behind Friends the following season. Strangis shared an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nom for Season 2 but lost it to The West Wing. He also received a Producers Guild nom for that season and the Kodak Vision Award at the PGA’s 2001 Golden Laurel Awards.
Strangis left the show after Season 2 to work on the David Caruso-led spinoff CSI: Miami, which premiered in September 2002 on CBS and was an out-of-the-box hit. He left the show after that initial season, but as the mothership show reigned as TV’s No. 1 primetime series through 2004-05, CSI: Miami was firmly ensconced in the Top 10. Both would continue to draw large audiences for years to come.
Strangis’ many other series producing credits include syndicated Soldier of Fortune, Inc. and War of the Worlds and CBS sitcom Harper Valley P.T.A. Earlier in his career, he served as second unit or assistant director on CBS’ The Loner and ABC’s The Patty Duke Show and The New Breed.
Strangis is survived by his wife, Bonnie; daughter Debi; sons Gary and Greg; sisters Judy and Cindy; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
