Donald Siegel

 Donald Siegel (October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) w

His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel. He is best known for the original sci-fi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), as well as five films with Clint Eastwood, including the police thriller Dirty Harry (1971) and the prison drama Escape from Alcatraz (1979), and John Wayne's final film, the 1976 Western The Shootist. He directed whatever material came his way, often transcending the limitations of budget and script to produce interesting and adept works. He made the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1956. He directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone, "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" and "Uncle Simon". He worked with Eli Wallach in The Lineup, Elvis Presley and Dolores del Río in Flaming Star (1960), with Steve McQueen in Hell Is for Heroes and Lee Marvin in the influential The Killers (1964).He had a long collaboration with composer Lalo Schifrin, who scored five of his films: Coogan's Bluff, The Beguiled, Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick and Telefon. Schifrin composed and recorded what would have been his sixth score for Siegel on Jinxed! (1982), but it was rejected by the studio despite Siegel's objections. This was one of several fights Siegel had on this, his last film. Siegel was married three times, had one children of his own and adopted four more. He died from cancer at age 78, and is buried at Cayucos-Morro Bay District Cemetery in Cayucos, California.