In 1962, lured by a career in the film industry, Szwarc abandoned the world of advertising after having secured a job as a production assistant in
Stanley Donen's movie
Charade, starring
Audrey Hepburn and
Cary Grant, which was shooting in Paris. He continued to work in television as a second unit director and writer/director of short subjects. However, work was limited and hard to find. In 1964, with no connections, and against advice from colleagues, Szwarc left Paris for
Los Angeles in search of opportunities, but securing professional jobs in
Hollywood was difficult. It was hell…I worked odd jobs like writing scripts for a potato chip commercial. I was the guy who puts the laugh on the laugh tracks of a sitcom. After two and a half years of this, I realized that nobody was going to come along and say "Hey, kid....here's a film to direct".
Developing Ironside In late 1966, while filling a low-level role for
Universal, Szwarc submitted an internal memo to television producers detailing ideas for new series; one such idea was developed into a 70-page script for a crime drama and became the framework for the series
Ironside (starring
Raymond Burr). Szwarc was allowed to make his directorial debut on the show, and initial success led to further assignments. During the 1970s, he directed episodes of
The Rockford Files,
Kojak,
Night Gallery,
Columbo,
The Six Million Dollar Man, and later,
It Takes a Thief,
Baretta,
Ally McBeal,
Heroes,
The Practice,
JAG, ''
Grey's Anatomy, Bones, Castle, Without a Trace'', as well as dozens of other series.
Directing feature films The 1970s and 1980s saw Szwarc oscillate between feature and television films and series. His feature films include
Bug (1975),
Jaws 2 (1978),
Somewhere in Time (1980),
Supergirl (1984)
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) and
Honor Bound. (1988). However, the
box office failure of the last three caused him to move to his native France, where he directed comedies such as ''
La Vengeance d'une blonde (1994) and Hercule et Sherlock (1996). Though La Vengeance d'une blonde'' was successful at the French box-office, these films found limited appeal outside national borders.
Return to television Szwarc was called back to Hollywood in the early 2000s, where he resumed his career in television, his forte. In 2003, he joined the crew of
The WB/CW television series
Smallville as a director. One of the major episodes he directed was "
Homecoming", the 200th episode of the series. Moreover, he co-directed, with
Miguel Sapochnik, the first episode of the
fifth and final season of the science-fiction/crime series
Fringe, as well as multiple other episodes of the series throughout its run. == Honours and awards ==