Wilbur Stark (August 10, 1912 – August 11, 1995) was an American writer and film, television, and radio producer and director.
Life Stark was born in Brooklyn and was the brother of Douglas Stark, an actor, Sheldon Stark, a writer, and Midge Stark, another producer. He was educated at the Manual Training High School and Columbia University. In 1935 he was hired by New York radio station WMCA, becoming a top salesman there.
In 1943 he joined the United States Army,Radio Daily, Volume 25 (1943), p. 44: "Wilbur Stark Inducted / Wilbur Stark, ace salesman for WMCA, was inducted into the Army yesterday." then in 1946 established a radio production company,Jacob Levich, The Motion Picture Guide 1996 Annual: The Films of 1995 (1996), p. 380 going into partnership with Jerry Layton as Wilbur Stark-Jerry Layton Productions.Ryan Ellett, Radio Drama and Comedy Writers, 1928-1962 (2017), p. 182
Stark first made a name in the 1940s as producer of Movie Matinee, a radio quiz show on WOR, going on to produce more than 1,500 shows on radio and a thousand on television. By January 1950, Stark and Layton had produced nearly eight hundred network program episodes, many for DuMont.David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (2006), p. 182 In December 1950, they announced that they were setting up separate offices, but would continue as partners splitting the packages and talent they already represented.'Stark, Layton Split Agency' in Billboard dated December 2, 1950, p. 4, col. 2
Stark's credits as a television producer included Colonel Humphrey Flack and Rocky King Detective in the 1950s and The Brothers Brannagan in 1960-61. Moving on to the film world, Stark was producer of Act of Reprisal (1964), My Lover, My Son (1970), All I Want Is You... and You... and You... (1974), Cat People (1982), and The Storyteller.
In 1983, Photoplay noted that Stark "makes a profitable habit of buying up good old movies for fashionable re-treads (such as Cat People, last year) is planning his own, more contemporary revision of Suspicion".Photoplay Movies & Video, Volume 34, Issues 6-12 (1983), p. xi
In 1945 he married Kathi Norris, who was then a radio writer,Radio Daily - Volume 31 (1945), p. 55: "Wilbur Stark, WMCA time salesman, getting hitched this morning to Kathleen I. Norris — the radio writer, not the author, natch." and they had two daughters, Pamela and Koo, and two sons, Wilbur Junior, known as Brad, and Patrick.The Billboard dated August 30, 1952, p. 44, col. 1 The family moved to London in the 1960s, beginning a new life. There the elder daughter was pursued by Sir William Pigott Brown, but according to Private Eye "So vile were Piggott-Brown's attentions and habits that Stark bought him off, presenting the reptile with a cheque for 500 dollars." However, the offender framed the cheque and hung it on his wall.Private Eye - Issues 523-549 (1982), p. 38 Pamela graduated from Goddard College and Harvard, became a consultant to non-profit organizations, and married Sheldon Guyer, a vice president of Merrill Lynch, in 1993.WEDDINGS; Pamela Stark, Sheldon Guyer in New York Times dated August 29, 1993, accessed 17 November 2017
Stark and his wife separated and divorced in the 1960s.
In 1980, Fantasy Newsletter reported that Stark had bought the rights to several old RKO fantasy films, intending to remake them. It suggested the most significant of these purchases was The Thing From Another World.Fantasy Newsletter, Volume 3, Issues 20-31 (1980), p. 12 When The Thing (1982) came to be made, Stark was executive producer.
Stark was also a director and writer, his writing credits including Vampire Circus (1971), The Love Box, and The Stud (1974).Gyles Brandreth, Something Sensational to Read in the Train (2009), p. 257
By the 1990s, Stark was living in Los Angeles. He died of cancer in August 1995 at New York Hospital.
Films Act of Reprisal (1964) – Producer My Lover, My Son (1970) – Writer and Producer Vampire Circus (1971) – Writer and Producer The Love Box (1972) – under the pseudonyms "Billy and Teddy White", alongside Tudor Gates – both credited as writers, producers and directors All I Want Is You... and You... and You... (1974) – Producer The Thing (1982) – Executive producerIan Conrich, David Woods, The Cinema of John Carpenter: The Technique of Terror (2004), p. 184 Cat People (1982) – Executive consultant
Notes
External links
Wilbur Stark at bfi.org.uk