Obituaries - Jan. 17, 1998

Robert Churchill; Educational Film Producer

Robert Churchill, 86, creator of educational films on topics ranging from cereal to AIDS. Born in Chicago, he earned a law degree from Harvard University, passed the California bar and studied photography at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. After his fashion photos were published in such magazines as Vogue, he moved into cinematography with “Valley Town” in 1939. Drafted in 1941, Churchill made training films for the Army Signal Corps Photographic Center, including a comedy called “Spare Time in the Army,” which was distributed to commercial theaters by Columbia. After a brief postwar fling at writing screenplays, he co-founded Churchill Wexler Film Productions with Sy Wexler in 1948. Their first film, “Wonders in Your Own Backyard,” was produced for $836. He worked with different partners over the years, and produced films for his Churchill Films & Churchill Media until 1996. The company was acquired by American Educational Products in 1994. On Dec. 18 in Los Angeles.

* Lee Freeson; Dealer in Rare Books About Theater

Lee Freeson, 96, an actor who became a pioneering dealer in rare books about the theater. Working without a store, he sold his “finds” from a series of more than 50 catalogs he issued from his Los Angeles home over six decades. He was a known scholar of theatrical books and helped build the theater libraries of major universities from UCLA to Harvard. Born in New York City, Freeson studied acting at the Clare Tree Major School of Theater of the Walter Hampden Theatre and won bit parts on Broadway. He moved to Los Angeles in 1929 and taught and acted at what was then the Pasadena Community Playhouse. As manager for his wife, dancer Carmelita Maracci, Freeson traveled extensively, collecting and studying books wherever he went. From the 1930s to 1950s, he particularly inspected university theater library collections, recommending appropriate additions and then finding the books for the schools to purchase. Freeson also bought duplicate books from the universities, another source for his highly respected catalogs. On Jan. 5 in Los Angeles of pneumonia.