Back in 1999 director Sidney Lumet sat down for a three hour interview about his life and career in television.

He later went on to make his name as a film director with such films as 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982).

But his background in theatre and television were a big influence on his subsequent work and this lengthy discussion is a fascinating insight into his early career.

The conversation with Ralph Engelmen in 1999 for the Archive of American Television covered his growing up during the Depression, his early work in theater and the pioneering days of television, the era of McCarthyism and his subsequent transition to feature films.

PART 1

His background and early years in Yiddish theatre growing up during the Depression

A party involving Michael Jackson and Brooke Shields

The influence of Carl Dreyer’s Day of Wrath (1943)

How he became an expert in electronics and radar.

PART 2

Actor training

The thread between modern playwrights and ancient Greek drama

Why early television recruited people from the theater

How he got hired by CBS in 1950 before he even owned a TV

Working as an assistant to then-director Yul Brynner

How the production technology of early TV worked.

PART 3

The early live TV dramas of the 1950s

How audio was recorded in early television (no radio mics!)

Working with Walter Cronkite

Camera interview techniques

Working with James Dean

How the discipline of TV served him well in later years

The legendary CBS news team and the Blacklist

PART 4

How he was visited by two FBI agents (who actually wore fedoras) during the Second Red Scare

The Blacklisted writers who formed a co-op

Actors who were effectively banned during this period

How rumours quickly spread

His return to Broadway and how Henry Fonda spotted him for 12 Angry Men

PART 5

The origins of 12 Angry Men

Differences between working in film and TV

His encyclopaedic knowledge of camera lenses

How TV cameras used multiple lenses and subsequently proved great training for movies

His approach to working with actors

How directing is distilling a piece to a core theme

The importance of flexibility

The painful process of acting

How the lack of interior studio space in New York boosted TV production in LA.

PART 6

His first experiences with videotape

The differences between working on videotape and film

How video is ‘far superior’ to film (remember, this was 1999!)

The reason live TV dramas died out

The influence of money on quality TV shows (‘the common denominator became more common’)

How he directed ‘The Howard Beale Show’ live when he shot Network (1976)

How everything in that film has actually happened …except killing someone

How TV network rivalries actually helped boost the appeal of Network (they all thought it was about a rival)

The isolating experience of watching TV compared to cinema or sports

How TV essentially stopped the Vietnam War and advice for people starting out

It’s a bit of a beast to sit through in one go, so it might be worth watching in half hour chunks.

> Sidney Lumet at IMDb, Wikipedia and TSFDT

> Buy 12 Angry Men, The Offence, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network and The Verdict on Amazon UK

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