Edward Simmel; Filmmaker, Director, Producer

Edward Simmel, 76, documentary filmmaker, director, producer and syndicator. In his teens, Simmel made a documentary in Mexico about the maguey plant, and as a film student at USC he trekked through South America making travelogues. Rejected for active service in World War II because of a leg shortened by polio, Simmel became a cinematographer for the Office of Strategic Services, assigned to naval intelligence in Africa and the Middle East. After the war, Simmel directed several B movie serials, including those of cowboy heroes Johnnie Mack Brown and Wild Bill Elliott. As television developed, he directed “The Gloria Swanson Theater.” Simmel next moved into syndication, packaging such series as “Mr. Lucky,” “Peter Gunn” and “The Cisco Kid.” In the late 1960s, he formed his own production company, Simmel & Associates, which produced television commercials. On Jan. 26 in Los Angeles of cancer.