John Badham

John Badham
Born	John MacDonald Badham 25 August 1939 (1939-08-25) Luton, Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Film director
Years active	1969 - present

John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an English-born American film director, best known for Saturday Night Fever (1977) and WarGames (1983).

Biography

Badham was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, the son of Mary Iola (née Hewitt), an actress, and Henry Lee Badham, a business executive and U.S. Air Force General. Badham was raised in the state of Alabama in the U.S. and became a naturalized citizen in 1950. He attended Indian Springs School in Alabama and college at Yale University.

Badham had worked for television for years before his breakthrough in 1977 with Saturday Night Fever. Starring John Travolta, the film is recognized as the most representational of the 1970s disco era. WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, is his other signature film, renowned for its take on popular Cold War fears of nuclear terror and holocaust as well amateur hacking.

In addition to his numerous film credits, Badham has also directed and produced for TV, including credits for Rod Serling's Night Gallery and the A&E television series The Beast. He has also contributed commentary to the web series Trailers From Hell.^{[citation needed]}

Family

Badham is the older brother (by 13 years) of Mary Badham, Oscar nominated for her child-acting role in To Kill a Mockingbird. Brother and sister have never worked together on the same project, however. Even though she is younger, all of Mary's acting credits preceded John's film/television credits by several years.

John's former wife is veteran model Jan Speck, 15 years his junior, of The New Treasure Hunt fame. She has had assorted cameo roles in many of his projects, starting in the 1980s.

Filmography

• The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Dracula (1979)
• Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
• Blue Thunder (1983)
• WarGames (1983)
• American Flyers (1985)
• Short Circuit (1986)
• Stakeout (1987)
• Bird on a Wire (1990)
• The Hard Way (1991)
• Point of No Return (1993)
• Another Stakeout (1993)
• Drop Zone (1994)
• Nick of Time (1995)
• Incognito (1998)

TV films

• The Senator (also known as The Bold Ones: The Senator), NBC (1970)
• Sarge, NBC, (1971)
• The Impatient Heart, NBC (1971)
• The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes, Night Gallery (also known as Rod Serling's Night Gallery), NBC (1971)
• Camera Obscura, Night Gallery, NBC (1971)
• Green Fingers, Night Gallery, NBC (1971)
• The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, Night Gallery, NBC (1972)
• You Can Come Up Now, Mrs. Millikan, Night Gallery, NBC (1972)
• The Doll of Death, Night Gallery, NBC (1972)
• (Uncredited) No Place to Run, (1972)
• The Sixth Sense, ABC (1972)
• Isn't It Shocking?, ABC (1973)
• The Godchild, ABC (1974)
• The Gun, ABC (1974)
• Reflections of Murder, ABC (1974)
• The Law, NBC (1974)
• Sunshine, NBC (1975)
• The Keegans, CBS (1976)
• Relentless: Mind of a Killer (also known as Mood Indigo), NBC (1993)
• The Jack Bull, HBO (1999)
• The Last Debate, Showtime (2000)

Publications

• Badham, John (2006). I’ll Be in My Trailer. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907149. 

External links

• John Badham at the Internet Movie Database
• John Badham at BFI Film & TV Database