William F. Claxton
Directing
Born 1914-10-22
Died 1996-02-11
Los Angeles County, California, USA
55 credits
Read biography
William Francis Claxton (October 22, 1914 – February 11, 1996) was an American film and television producer, editor and director. He made a number of films for Robert L. Lippert. He also directed and produced episodes of Bonanza, the NBC-TV series Little House on the Prairie, and also directed episodes of the NBC-TV series Father Murphy, The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, Fame, and The High Chaparral.
Claxton got his start in Hollywood as a film editor in the 1940s, where he was employed an editor for Edward Small Productions, as he would move into directing of second feature films by 1950s and 1960s, and also delve into television directing during this period.
During World War II, Claxton served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a captain. Claxton worked under Frank Capra as a film editor on the Why We Fight series. Claxton worked alongside Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) in the animation and film department of the U.S. Army.
Claxton's very first directorial effort was 1951's All That I Can Have. Claxton, who is best known for his TV work, enjoyed a long stint as producer/director of the syndicated Christian anthology series This is the Life (which was his first work in TV) from 1951 to 1980.
He spent much of the 1950s with 20th Century Fox's Regal Pictures subsidiary, turning out medium-budget films which included the films God Is My Partner (1956) and Desire in the Dust (1960); occasionally, as in the cast of Rockabilly Baby (1957), he produced as well as directed.
Claxton was a close friend to actor Michael Landon, with whom he worked on the NBC-TV series Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and then Highway to Heaven, and who also enjoyed the This is the Life series, which Claxton was involved with. Claxton also directed the feature-length series pilot Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988).
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Filmography
Directing
40 credits
Dallas
Little House on the Prairie
The Rifleman
The Twilight Zone
Highway to Heaven
Route 66
The High Chaparral
Fame
The Rookies
Black Saddle
Law of the Plainsman
Father Murphy
Shirley
Night of the Lepus
The Cowboys
Law of the Lawless
Tucson
The Quiet Gun
Stage to Thunder Rock
Desire in the Dust
God Is My Partner
The Canterville Ghost
I'll Give My Life
Little House on the Prairie: A Merry Ingalls Christmas
Teenage Challenge
Bonanza: The Next Generation
Rockabilly Baby
All That I Have
Giving Thanks Always
Stagecoach To Fury
Half Past Midnight
The Christmas Spirit
Young Jesse James
Fangs of the Wild
Young and Dangerous
Territorial Men
This My Son
A Letter to Nancy
Does Christ Live in Your Home?
God's Christmas Gift
Other credits
13 credits
The Corsican Brothers
Fighting Back
Strange Journey
International Lady
Home Town Story
Kit Carson
The Crimson Key
Night Wind
Backlash
The Invisible Wall
Miss Mink of 1949
Dangerous Millions
Deadline for Murder
Acting
4 credits
Producing
4 credits
Writing
1 credit
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