Lewis Teague, an extremely efficient and underrated director, was born on March 8th, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. He began his career by apprenticing with renowned director Sydney Pollack at Universal Television.
Teague's early work included production management on the landmark rock concert documentary Woodstock (1970). He then found gainful employment with legendary producer Roger Corman, handling second-unit director chores on several films, including Death Race 2000 (1975),Thunder and Lightning (1977),and Avalanche (1978). Additionally, he served as an editor for Monte Hellman's Cockfighter (1974) and Jonathan Demme's Crazy Mama (1975).
Teague's responsibilities also included second-unit director work on Samuel Fuller's World War II epic The Big Red One (1980). He made his feature debut as co-director of the entertainingly trashy Dirty O'Neil (1974),followed by the lively Depression-era crime exploitation film The Lady in Red (1979),which he also edited.
The director's subsequent films included the witty horror-creature feature Alligator (1980),the gritty urban vigilante opus Fighting Back: The Story of Rocky Bleier (1980),the terrifying Cujo (1983),and the immensely enjoyable anthology outing Cat's Eye (1985). His other notable films include the fun Romancing the Stone (1984) sequel The Jewel of the Nile (1985),the exciting action romp Navy Seals (1990),the cool futuristic sci-fi offering Wedlock (1991),and the nifty made-for-TV supernatural shocker The Triangle (2001).
In addition to his film work, Teague has directed episodes of several television shows, including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962),Barnaby Jones (1973),Shannon's Deal (1990),Profiler (1996),and Nash Bridges (1996). After a five-year absence from directing, Lewis Teague made a welcome comeback with the dramatic short Cante Jondo (2007).
