Early films In January 1960 Schaffner signed a multi picture deal with Columbia Pictures. In May 1961 he signed to make
A Summer Place at 20th Century Fox with Fabian and Dolores Hart. The film was not made. Schaffner directed
The Good Years (1962) for TV with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. Other TV work included
The Great American Robbery. Instead Schaffner's first motion picture was
The Stripper (1963), made at Fox from a play by
William Inge, starring
Richard Beymer and
Joanne Woodward. The film was well-received critically, but not a commercial success. He continued to work for TV including
The Legend of Lylah Clare. Schaffner later made
The Best Man (1964) based on a play by
Gore Vidal and
The War Lord (1965), based on a play by
Leslie Stevens, with
Charlton Heston. In a 1966 interview he said "as you mature you learn that the story is the most important thing." He announced various films for Columbia –
The Day Lincoln Was Shot,
The Whistle Blows for Victory and
The Green Beret – but they were not made. He went to Britain to make
The Double Man (1967) with
Yul Brynner, a film Schaffner admitted he did for the money.
Peak Schaffner had a huge critical and commercial hit in
Planet of the Apes (1968) starring Heston at 20th Century Fox. In December 1968 Schaffner signed a non-exclusive three-picture deal with Columbia. His next film was for 20th Century Fox, however:
Patton (1970), a biopic of
General Patton starring
George C. Scott. It was a major success for which Schaffner won the
Academy Award for Best Director and the
Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director. He made
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) for producer
Sam Spiegel, based on
the book of the same name by
Robert K. Massie. It was an expensive box-office failure. Schaffner followed it with
Papillon (1973) a $14 million epic with Steve McQueen and
Dustin Hoffman that was a considerable financial success. In 1971 he said his films "are almost always about people who are out of their time and place." He ended up making neither:
Dynasty was never made, and
French Lieutenant was made a decade later by another director. Schaffner reunited with George C. Scott in
Islands in the Stream (1977), based on the novel by
Ernest Hemingway. He then did
The Boys from Brazil (1978) based on a novel by
Ira Levin with
Gregory Peck and
Laurence Olivier.
Later work His later films included
Sphinx (1981), a $10 million thriller about Egypt based on a novel by
Robin Cook and produced by Stanley O'Toole, who had made
Boys from Brazil with Schaffner. It was a commercial and critical failure, as was
Yes, Giorgio (1982), a musical comedy starring
Luciano Pavarotti. Schaffner's last films were the critically well-received
Lionheart (1987) and
Welcome Home (1989). Schaffner was president of the
Directors Guild of America from 1987 until his death in 1989. ==Frequent collaborators==