Person Details

Birthday: 1926-01-01 02:35:28

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 44

TV Involvements: 5


Most Famous Work

Biography

Jac Venza is a public television producer who is directly responsible for most of the theatre and music programs that have been seen on PBS since its creation in 1970. From the early 1960s until his retirement in 2005, Venza brought such programs as NET Playhouse, Live from Lincoln Center, American Playhouse, American Masters, and Great Performances to millions of viewers. He won a Personal Peabody Award in 1998. He began his career on CBS in the 1950s, where he began to notice the scarcity of programming devoted to the fine arts on television. It was his dream to bring more of it to the home screen on a regular basis, but he did not receive a full opportunity to do so until the creation of National Educational Television, where it soon became possible, thanks largely to Venza, to see great dramatic literature regularly performed by some of the world's most renowned actors. A then-unknown Dustin Hoffman made his first major television appearance in a play - Ronald Ribman's The Journey of the Fifth Horse - on NET in 1966. NET Playhouse was perhaps the first television anthology to present commercial-free, full-length productions (rather than one-hour or ninety-minute adaptations) of theatrical classics such as Arthur Miller's adaptation of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. When NET became PBS, Venza quickly launched Great Performances, which is still running today. Upon his retirement from PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Venza the Ralph Lowell medal. He held the record for the most Emmy nominations for an individual - 57 - until 2010. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most Famous Work

The Adams Chronicles
Average
7

The Adams Chronicles

(1976) Executive Producer
Brideshead Revisited
Average
8

Brideshead Revisited

(1981) Executive Producer
Mourning Becomes Electra
Average
0

Mourning Becomes Electra

(1978) Producer
Broadway: The American Musical
Average
8

Broadway: The American Musical

(2004) Executive Producer
The World of Jim Henson
Average
7

The World of Jim Henson

(1994) Executive Producer
The Good Doctor
Average
1

The Good Doctor

(1978) Producer
Hard Times
Average
5

Hard Times

(1977) Producer
Alice in Wonderland
Average
8

Alice in Wonderland

(1983) Executive Producer

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
Year Character Movie/Tv

Production

Year Role Movie/Tv
2004 Executive Producer
2002 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1999 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1995 Executive Producer
1994 Executive Producer
1992 Executive Producer
1991 Co-Producer
1989 Executive Producer
1987 Executive Producer
1983 Executive Producer
1982 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Associate Producer
Executive Producer
1981 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1979 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1978 Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1977 Producer
1976 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1975 Executive Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
1974 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1972 Executive Producer
Producer
1971 Executive Producer
Producer
1970 Executive Producer
1969 Executive Producer
1966 Executive Producer
Producer
Producer
Year Role Movie/Tv

Art

Year Role Movie/Tv
1961 Production Design
1958 Production Design
Year Role Movie/Tv

Join the discussion

Please Log in to comment