American director of stage shows, films and television shows
During World War II he was a pilot in the US Army Air Force, flying B-25 bombers.
Attended the University of Arizona.
Was a member of the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Began his career in show business as a stage manager at NBC.
Creator and executive producer of the Los Angeles Spotlight Awards.
Was a distant relative of Sid Grauman , known for building Hollywoods Chinese and Egyptian movie theaters. His father was Sids first cousin.
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and eight other air medals having flown 56 combat missions in Europe during World War II.
Grauman and his wife Peggy were members of the original Buffy Chandlers Los Angeles Philharmonic Founders organization. Their financial support of the Los Angeles Philharmonic included active participation on the board of directors.
He directed the mystery-horror film Lady in a Cage . Olivia de Havilland stepped into the role originally announced for Joan Crawford ; the following year she replaced Crawford in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte . Grauman was extremely proud of the film and with De Havillands performance because she was open and receptive to suggestions during their discussion of the roles level of intensity and fright. "She listened to me," Grauman said.
After his war service he had a succession of short-lived jobs, including working as an agents assistant from offices located on the southwest corner at Western Ave. and Hollywood Blvd., which was the core of the agents representing talent during the late 1940s and 1950s. The area contained such studios as Columbia, Paramount, Warners, Goldwyn, 20th Century-Foxs sound stages, KTLA, NBC, CBS, ABC and The Don Lee television facility broadcasting stages, which stretched east and west on Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards to Prospect and Talmadge Boulevard. Grauman next landed a job in the publicity department at Universal Studios, but he felt that local television programs were so terrible he could do better. Starting as a stage manager at NBC, he co-created "Lights, Camera, Action!" , a talent showcase/contest for performers, including Leonard Nimoy (who did not win his showcase episode). Grauman went from that show back to NBC where he directed "Matinee Theatre" and the "Lux Video Theatre" anthology live afternoon network programs. His big break was directing episodes of the hit series "The Untouchables" . TV historian Stephen Bowie wrote in his "Classic TV History" that Graumans work on the series marked its "transformation from a simplistic cops-and-robbers shoot-em-up into a richer, more character-driven melodrama." Graumans credits include numerous episodes of hit TV shows such as "Murder, She Wrote" , "Barnaby Jones" , the "Columbo" specials and "The Fugitive" . He battled heart and vascular problems, and died of natural causes at 93 years of age at his home on Sunset Vale Avenue, on the foothill behind the famous Sunset Strips Schwabs Drug Store, near the end of the famous Hollywood Sunset Strip where Sunset joins Beverly Hills.
His nickname for his wife Peggy was "Sweet Pea". They loved their feline menagerie, giving their pet cats their own bedroom or guest house to hide.
During World War II his Army Air Force B-25 bomber unit was based on airstrips located near Milan, Italy. It made daily and nightly raids on Berlin and other major German cities.
He had no background in theater or films when he began directing television in the late 1950s, during the era of live TV; consequently, he often learned the business in a "trial by fire". Beginning as a stage manager, his knack for working with actors and crews resulted in his being promoted to direct live TV shows. In 1957, for "Matinee Theatre" {Frankenstein (#2.99)} , he cast former heavyweight champion boxer Primo Carnera as the monster. At one point Carnera was supposed to pick up a stunt man and carry him a bit before putting him down, but the hulking boxer got carried away. "He grabbed him, he lifts him up like a toy and threw him," Grauman related in a 2009 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences interview, "and the guy went right through the wall of scenery. Luckily, the stunt man was not badly hurt and the live show went on without interruption. One of those live TV incidents typical of the early madcap examples of pioneer live TV." It was the kind of situation that made Grauman nearly unflappable as a director, especially when dealing with stars. When he directed "Columbo" {Murder in Malibu (#9.6)} ), Peter Falk rejected his setup of a shot, insisting that a pair of underwear on an actress be worn inside-out with the tag showing, "I thought Falk was crazy--what the hell did that have to do with the story?" Grauman said. "Falk didnt explain it nor was it in the script, but by the end of the filming, the underwear turned out to be a clever clue. That son-of-a-bitch had figured it out in his head," Grauman concluded.
He supported many art institutions in the L.A. area. Harkening back to his "Lights, Camera, Action!" television talent show, in the late 1980s he created the Ahmanson Theatres Spotlight Awards, which annually give free training to Los Angeles students in music, dance and acting, culminating in a spring awards show at the Music Centers Ahmanson Theatre. He produced and directed the awards showcase.
He was a member of the Los Angeles Hillcrest Country Club, the golf club and social arena for Hollywoods Jewish actors, singers, songwriters, producers and movie moguls in the "golden age" of film. As members of the Club, such figures as Al Jolson , Eddie Cantor , George Jessel , Jack Benny , George Burns , Groucho Marx , Harpo Marx , Milton Berle , Danny Thomas and Danny Kaye carved out a niche of their own, a special place at Hillcrest where many of them would gather to eat lunch together nearly every day when in town; this was known as "The Round Table", of which Grauman was a member.
"Murder, She Wrote" production designer Hub Braden noted that Grauman rotated with the shows directing teams, directing four to six episodes a season. His preparation for his assignment always established a preliminary production meeting, where he and the staff would review the script, scene by scene. The backside of his MSW script pages would include notations for his shot notes, camera angles, actors positions and movement motivations. He would let Braden copy his script in its entirety, and Braden would share Graumans specific notes with the set decorator and property master. Grauman did his homework, being the most prepared "prepared" director Braden said he had ever dealt with. Braden first worked with Grauman on the Irwin Allen -produced movie-of-the-week Outrage! featuring Robert Preston. Allen meddled with the director, cinematographer and cast during production. Grauman, always the gentleman, would manage to mollify Allen while allowing the production to progress smoothly. In directing episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" during the final denouement scene, the entire cast had to be lined up in a group arrangement featuring Angela Lansbury s "Jessica Fletcher" solving the crime and exposing the perpetrator(s). This shot became known as "The Flying Wing." Graumans memory was awesome, except on one occasion--filming an exterior scene on a San Fernando Valley golf course, redressed as NYCs Central Park. Arriving on the set on shoot day, he reversed his camera angles and actors motivation in the scene. He had forgotten to analyze the suns position and direction for the cinematographers lighting, a backlight set-up. The construction and greens crew had to re-dress the entire golf course green, including bushes, rocks, fencing, park signs and benches, while Grauman shot at another location. He had not considered Lansburys backlight halo for the staging of the walk-and-talk action. She preferred to be filmed with her left profile, and his shot angles and scene motivation always established this aspect in his directing.
He was born in Milwaukee, WI, where his father owned several movie theaters. His fathers cousin Sid Grauman built the Egyptian and the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Walter attended the University of Wisconsin for a couple of years and then briefly the University of Arizona before enlisting in the Army during World War II. As a pilot in the Army Air Force, he flew more than 50 missions in Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
