William T. Orr

William T. Orr

Personal information

Known for
Production
Known credits
51
Gender
Male
Born
September 27, 1917
Died
December 25, 2002
Place of birth
New York City, New York, USA
Also known as
William Ferdinand Quinn Jr.William Turney OrrWm. T. OrrWilliam OrrBill Orr

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William T. Orr (September 27, 1917 – December 25, 2002) was an American television producer associated with a series of western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s. On most of his Warner Bros. series, he was billed as "Wm. T. Orr".

Orr began his career as an actor; his film credits include The Mortal Storm, The Gay Sisters, and The Big Street.

As the first head of Warner Bros. Television department, Orr forged a fruitful alliance with ABC, which resulted in the network having a number of prime time hits, such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, and F Troop. At the height of this relationship in the early 1960s, Orr had nine programs in prime time simultaneously. Of these, no program was more significant than one of his earliest, Cheyenne. It was a groundbreaking series that was both the first hour-long western and the first series of any kind made by a major Hollywood film studio consisting entirely of content wholly exclusive to television.

A curator at The Paley Center for Media (previously named The Museum of Television and Radio) once encapsulated Orr's importance to Warner Bros. by saying, "Television began as a step-child. But because of Orr, it became equal with film in creating revenue and jobs for the studio." One of the key reforms he made to effect this change was to move Warner's nascent television department from cramped quarters in New York City to Los Angeles studios separate from the film division.

His impact on the genre of western fiction was recognized with a Golden Boot Award upon the announcement of his death.

Popular

The Mortal Storm
Movie
1940

The Mortal Storm

Movie · 1940

Sex and the Single Girl
Movie
1964

Sex and the Single Girl

Movie · 1964

The Lucy Show
Show
1962

The Lucy Show

Show · 1962

Maverick
Show
1957

Maverick

Show · 1957

F Troop
Show
1965

F Troop

Show · 1965

77 Sunset Strip
Show
1958

77 Sunset Strip

Show · 1958