Rozane's August 1999 Interview:
Joel Oliansky was born in Brooklyn, New York. He later became a co-founder
of the Hartford Stage Company and is a former Writer-in-Residence at the Yale Drama
School.
Francis Coppola got him his first job in Los Angeles in 1964 and from there Mr. Oliansky
went on to many great things.
His daughter, Ingrid, would watch Emergency! and told her dad
about it. He also knew about the show from working with Jack Webb on "DA", and
so pestered his agent to get him to direct one. The agent pestered Bob Cinader. Check for
his name in the credits of "Computer Error" and "The Indirect Method".
:-)
He wrote the script for the movie "Bird", which was directed by Clint Eastwood.
He won an Emmy for his script, "The Senator", starring Hal Holbrook. As writer
and director for the NBC's series, "The Law", he won a Writers Guild Award, an
Edgar Allan Poe Award, and the Humanitas Award. He has directed episodes of
"Kojak", "Quincy", "Cagney & Lacey", "The Bold
Ones", just to name a few. He also wrote and directed "The Competition",
which won an Oscar for music.
Joel was very impressed with Kevin Tighe and even wrote a part in "The Law" for
him. It was not to be however, since the studio said they had Kevin in Emergency!
and he was not able to do it.
Mr. Oliansky is now working on two projects for HBO.
copyright 1999 by Rozane
Rozanne,
It is my sad duty to have to inform you that my Father passed away yesterday, July 29, 2002.
He had been in the hospital since May 22nd with a variety of illnesses and a neurological syndrome called Guillaine-Barre…He was removed from life support at approximately 11:30 yesterday morning
after several EEGs confirmed no brain activity.
He will be inurned at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery here in Los Angeles, California on Friday, August 9th in a wall niche right around the corner
from Rudolph Valentino.
I just thought you might want to add this info to the website and I wanted to thank you again for your recent kindness to my Father. He was deeply
touched by your interest in him and his involvement with Emergency!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Oliansky
