Personal Langley was born in
Oklahoma City, but moved to
Los Angeles as a small child. He was the son of Lurleen (Fox), a homemaker, and John Russell Langley, an
oil wildcatter. Langley was a Morse code intercept operator in the
Army Security Agency, an intelligence unit of the
United States Army from 1961 to 1963, in Panama. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from
California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1971, and later a Master's degree in literature and composition. Langley briefly participated in the doctorate of philosophy program in
University of California, Irvine. In order to make the show, Langley had convinced officials of the
Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Department to allow cameras to accompany them on a previously scheduled drug bust. Langley's most notable achievement perhaps is the innovation of the
cinéma vérité signature style of the award-winning
Cops television program, which notably influenced TV advertising and news
reporting, not to mention other network and syndicated programming. Langley recalled that the
Cops concept was initially difficult to sell to television network executives, and that all were "very negative" to his fundamental idea. In June 2020, Paramount Network pulled the program from its schedule in response to national protests against the
murder of George Floyd while being arrested by officers of the
Minneapolis Police Department, and announced its cancellation days later. The program's last episode on the network aired on May 11, 2020. Production recommenced in September of that year for international markets, and in September 2021, it was announced that
Fox Nation (
Fox Corporation's new streaming service) picked up the show, with the 33rd season premiering on October 1, 2021. In 1992, Barbour/Langley Productions moved to a new location in
Orlando,
Florida. Barbour retired in 1994 and the production company became simply
Langley Productions.
Other work Among Langley's credits are
Who Murdered JFK, an examination of the
John F. Kennedy assassination; and
Terrorism: Target U.S.A. (1989), an early warning of the coming problems with terrorism in the United States as well as across the world. Langley's credits also include various network,
cable and syndicated TV shows, including the television series
Code 3,
Anatomy of Crime,
Video Justice, and
Cop Files. He also produced various independent films and directed film and documentary film, including the
Dolph Lundgren workout video
Maximum Potential,
Dogwatch,
Tiptoes and
Wildside. Langley also produced a television series called
Inside American Jail for TruTV with his son
Morgan. In an innovative move, the show was also sold to and airs as
Jail on
MyNetworkTV.
Jail is also an unscripted series following corrections officers as they process suspects through city and county jails. Morgan Langley is credited as co-creator of the new series, which incorporates the video verite style of
Cops. Father and son then produced
Las Vegas Jailhouse as yet another examination of crime and the justice system in America. Langley was a producer of
Antoine Fuqua's ''
Brooklyn's Finest'', which was screened at the
Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. During the 2010/2011 television season, Langley was also responsible for the following series running concurrently:
Cops,
Jail, Las Vegas Jailhouse, Street Patrol and
Vegas Strip. More recent TV shows include
Road Warriors on
Spike. Langley also produced
Undercover Stings for
Spike. Langley also started his own off-road race team known as COPS racing team. Langley was active in
Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts and
SCORE International. He won the 2017 Baja 1000 in the Spec Trophy Truck class. ==Death==