Daryl Duke, one of Canada's most visionary producers in the early days of its television industry, passed away on October 21 following a lengthy battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was 77.

Duke started at the National Film Board of Canada in the 1950s before joining the CBC's television division during its infancy. He produced and directed some of the network's most significant programs during the 1950s and 1960s, among them EXPLORATIONS, TELESCOPE, THIS HOUR HAS SEVEN DAYS, and QUEST. Duke worked on many of these with an old NFB colleague, writer-producer Norman Klenman. When Duke went to Los Angeles in the early 1960s to produce THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW he brought Norman down as writer, and following this they again teamed up for another late night talk program, THE LES CRANE SHOW.

Traveling between Canada and the U.S. Duke continued to work on documentaries for television as well as direct episodic progams. He won an Emmy in 1971 for work on the Hal Holbrook series THE SENATOR, and directed episodes of WOJECK, THE MANIPULATORS, THE BOLD ONES, THE PSYCHIATRIST, NIGHT GALLERY, GHOST STORY, BANACEK, HARRY O, and COLUMBO. His 1975 telefilm THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT launced the Jack Warden series JIGSAW JOHN.

He also directed a variety of television films, most notably THE PRESIDENT'S PLANE IS MISSING, A CRY FOR HELP, GRIFFIN & PHOENIX, and FLORENCE NIGHTENGALE. The 1973 adaptation he did for CBS of Margaret Craven's novel I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME won him some of his greatest praise, and among his many achievements remained his personal favourite.

Undoubtedly his most successful production for television was ABC's epic 1983 mini-series THE THORN BIRDS, for which he was nominated for both an Emmy and DGA Award.

In 1976 Duke once again teamed up with Klenman to start up Vancouver's first independent television station, CKVU. It enjoyed a colorful existence for three decades before being sold to Moses Znaimer and being rebranded City TV. In its early days the station became notorious for broadcasting movies uncut, long before the advent of Pay TV in the region.

While television is where the bulk of Daryl Duke spent his career he did also make several feature films. PAYDAY (1972), starring Rip Torn, netted him a special award from the National Society of Film Critics. His exceptional thriller THE SILENT PARTNER (1978) won several Canadian Film Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. HARD FEELINGS (1981) was praised though little seen, and his ambitious adaptation of James Clavell's TAI-PAN (1986) - shot on location in China at a time when few (if any) western features were allowed to film there - proved to be a commercial and critical disappointment.

He was awarded the Director's Guild of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

PAYDAY is such an amazing film, with an unforgettable turn by Torn as an amoral country singer.
RIP Daryl Duke.

I must reiterate the thoughts on Payday. This is one of the major unsung films of the "American New Wave"/"New Hollywood" era [even if Duke was Canadian ;) ]. Rip Torn gets a rare chance at a leading role and delivers one of his finest performances.

I believe Warner has video rights [they issued the film on VHS in the late nineties] and I can only hope a DVD is soon forthcoming. Lately, WB seems to be turning its sights onto its sizable late sixties-early 70s backcatalog, and have released a number of more obscure, below-the-radar titles, so there seems to be good reason for optimism.

Well, WB has come through once again and just announced that DVDs for Payday, Straight Time, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Prince of the City, Steelyard Blues, and Tell Me a Riddle are forthcoming.

Payday even features a commentary with the recently departed Mr. Duke. Unfortunately, Rip Torn, who has seen better days, but is still among the living, is nowhere to be found on the DVD.

DVD Times announcement