Harve Bennett, a prolific movie and television producer who practically saved the Star Trek film franchise, has died. He was 84.
His death was confirmed by the official Star Trek site, which reported that he died on Wednesday. He had been living in Oregon, where he had retired to. He died following a long illness.
Bennett is best remembered for lifting the Star Trek film series after 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a disappointment to both Paramount and fans. Paramount gave Bennett the chance to produce the next film, which turned out to be one of the best science fiction films in history, The Wrath of Khan. Bennett co-wrote the film and hired Nicholas Meyer to direct.
He continued overseeing the film franchise, producing The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home and The Final Frontier. Bennett was asked to produce The Undiscovered Country, which was directed by Meyer and turned out to be the final movie with the complete original crew. However, he turned it down and tried to develop a prequel movie that never happened.
Before Trek, Bennett was famous for producing The Six Million Man and The Bionic Woman, notes Deadline. He also produced The Jesse Owens Story miniseries and the TV movie A Woman Called Golda, which co-starred Trek’s Leonard Nimoy.
“He was a remarkable man and he was unpretentious and self-effacing. I don’t think there would be a Star Trek franchise without him. He rescued it. He’s endangered of being lost in the shuffle, but he’s the guy who figured it out,” Meyer told Deadline.
Bennett was born in Chicago and graduated from UCLA’s film school. He also served in the Army during the Korean War.
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