AllMovie

Gilbert Cates was a producer and director of television game shows by the late 1950s, and in the '60s, he produced Broadway plays. He debuted as a director in 1970, adapting one of those plays, the domestic drama I Never Sang for My Father. Cates worked chiefly in television (and produced the Oscar telecast many times over) but made several notable features, including Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams with Joanne Woodward and the thriller Backfire. He died at age 77 in the fall of 2011. Gilbert Cates's son, Gil Cates, Jr. (Lucky), also established himself as a successful writer-director.