Known for Production
Martin Starger (May 8, 1932 – May 31, 2024) was an American entertainment businessman and producer. He led ABC Entertainment (a wing of the American Broadcasting Company) during its boom period in the 1970s, pioneering the creation of television shows such as ABC Movie of the Week, Marcus Welby, M.D. and Happy Days. He also pushed the limits of television broadcast presiding over pioneering miniseries and specials such as Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man. Starger was born in the Bronx, New York City in 1932. He made his way into films as the executive producer of Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville before becoming tied to the film production department of Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment starting with Stanley Donen's 1978 film Movie Movie. Working with Grade, Starger became the president of Associated Film Distribution, the distributor of ITC's films which tied him to the production of films both successful (Autumn Sonata, The Muppet Movie, On Golden Pond, Sophie's Choice) and unsuccessful (Raise the Titanic, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Saturn 3), some of which bombed in a manner that destroyed the company. After the fall of AFD, Starger continued to produce films such as Peter Bogdanovich's 1985 film Mask. Starger died at his home in Los Angeles on May 31, 2024, at the age of 92. Description above from the Wikipedia article Martin Starger, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
May 8, 1932
Died
May 31, 2024 (age 92)
Birthplace
New York City, New York, USA
Filmography
25 films, 1 show


Love Letters
1999 · 1h 40m · CA
An ambitious U.S. Senator reflects back on his life after the death of a woman whom he loved and kept in contact with only through correspondence.


Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Holiday Affair
1988 · 1h 40m · US
Robert Young brings his Marcus Welby alter ego to television for one last time. Having retired, the good doctor takes a trip to Europe alone and falls in love with an American divorcee who is caring for a blind dancer.


Escape from Sobibor
1987 · 2h 49m · UK
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.


Consenting Adult
1985 · 1h 40m · US
Young and shy Jeff discovers his attraction to men. After struggling with himself he comes out to his parents. Mum eventually listens to his son and tries to understand his feelings, but his Dad would rather die — which, in the end, he really does, leaving behind a mother, her son and his friend to work those things out Jeff and his Dad had never the courage to talk about.


Sophie's Choice
1982 · 2h 31m · UK
Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war prosperity to Auschwitz. In the present, Sophie and Nathan's relationship increasingly unravels as Stingo grows closer to Sophie and Nathan's fragile mental state becomes ever more apparent.


The Last Unicorn
1982 · 1h 33m · UK
A unicorn learns from a riddle-speaking butterfly that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the monstrous Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magician, and Molly Grue, a middle-aged woman who dreamed all her life of seeing a unicorn. Their journey leads them far from home, all the way to the castle of King Haggard.


Barbarosa
1982 · 1h 30m · UK
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.


The Elephant Man
1982 · 1h 30m · US
A taped version of the stage play about a hideously deformed 19th-century London man and how he managed to triumph over his disease.


Red Flag: The Ultimate Game
1981 · 1h 40m · US
Two fighter pilots, Phil Clark and Jay Rivers, who flew together in Vietnam are assigned to the elite Air Force Fighter Weapons School (known as "Red Flag") at Nellis AFB, Nevada, about a decade after the war. Brash, self-confident Clark is an instructor, while quieter, family man Rivers is the student. At first, the two men resume their friendship. But as the student starts to show the master a thing or two, tensions develop. Can their relationship survive the stresses of one of the military's top schools?


The Legend of the Lone Ranger
1981 · 1h 38m · UK
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.


Hard Country
1981 · 1h 44m · US
Ambitious young Jodie wants more out of life than the small Texas country town she lives in has to offer. Jodie realizes that in order to pursue her dreams she will have to leave Texas and move to the big city. However, her shiftless factory worker boyfriend Kyle wants to stay in Texas.


Friendly Fire
1980 · 2h 27m · US
In March 1970, a U.S. Army officer arrived at the Iowa farm of Peg and Gene Mullen and informed them that their son Michael had been killed in Vietnam by "friendly fire." Their determined attempts to learn more about the circumstances of their son's death are the subject of this true account film.


Raise the Titanic
1980 · 1h 55m · UK
To obtain a supply of a rare mineral, a ship raising operation is conducted for the only known source, the Titanic.


The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd
1980 · 2h 25m · US
The story of the doctor who faced charges of conspiracy after he assisted John Wilkes Booth by setting his broken leg after he had assassinated Abraham Lincoln.


Saturn 3
1980 · 1h 27m · UK
In the future, Earth is overcrowded and the population relies on distant bases to be fed. In the Saturn 3 station, Major Adam and the scientist Alex, who is also his lover and has never been on Earth, have been researching hydroponics for three years in the base alone with their dog Sally. Captain Benson arrives Saturn 3 with Hector, incapable to controlling his emotions he transfers his homicidal tendency and insanity to Hector. Now Major Adam and Alex are trapped in the station with a dangerous psychopath robot.


All Quiet on the Western Front
1979 · 2h 30m · UK
At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.


The Muppet Movie
1979 · 1h 37m · UK
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there, he meets a bear, a pig, a whatever (his future muppet crew), and some special celebrity guest stars, while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!


Sanctuary of Fear
1979 · 1h 40m · US
A Manhattan priest with a penchant for solving crimes goes to the aid of a young actress. She is becoming enmeshed in a series of bizarre incidents she can't explain, and her complaints to the police have gone ignored.


Jennifer: A Woman’s Story
1979 · 2h · US
The widow of a wealthy shipbuilder tries to hold onto his business and becomes involved with boardroom intrigue in her bitter struggle to maintain control of the company. Based on British TV series "The Foundation." Pilot to a prospective series.


Movie Movie
1978 · 1h 48m · US
Three movie genres of the 1930s, boxing films, WWI aviation dramas, and backstage Broadway musicals, are satirized using the same cast.


The Domino Principle
1977 · 1h 38m · UK
Roy Tucker, a Vietnam war veteran with excellent shooting skills, is serving a long prison sentence when a mysterious visitor promises him that he will be released if he agrees to carry out a dangerous assignment.


Nashville
1975 · 2h 40m · US
The intersecting stories of twenty-four characters—from country star to wannabe to reporter to waitress—and their connection through the music business in Nashville, Tennessee.