Gerald Mayer, 82; Film and TV Producer, Director for Family’s Studio

Gerald Mayer, a scion of the MGM magnate Louis B. Mayer family and himself a successful film and television producer and director, has died. He was 82.

Mayer died Friday of complications of pneumonia at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.

The Montreal-born Mayer, who grew up in Los Angeles, was the nephew of the MGM founder and the son of MGM studio manager Jerry G. Mayer.

After graduating from Stanford with a journalism degree and serving in the Navy during World War II, Gerald Mayer joined the family’s studio in 1945 to direct screen tests and shorts. Soon he was directing feature films such as “Mr. Whitney Had a Notion” in 1949, “Dial 1119” in 1950, and “Inside Straight,” starring Barry Sullivan and Arlene Dahl, in 1951.

There were more films in the early 1950s: “The Sellout,” starring Walter Pidgeon; “Holiday for Sinners,” with Gig Young and Keenan Wynn; and “Bright Road,” with Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte.

But as television series began to take off, Mayer joined up, directing scores of episodes of the long-running “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza” and “Adventures in Paradise.”

In the 1960s, he directed such popular shows as “The Defenders,” “Dr. Kildare,” “Ben Casey,” “The Nurses,” “The Fugitive,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Mannix” and “Bracken’s World.”

Mayer remained in demand through the 1970s for such small-screen series as “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Quincy,” “Hunter,” “Eight Is Enough,” “Logan’s Run,” “Lou Grant” and “Shirley.”

Among his last jobs were the early 1980s series “Nero Wolfe,” starring William Conrad as a reclusive crime-solving genius; and “Airwolf,” featuring a futuristic attack helicopter and starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine.

Mayer is survived by his wife, Irene Briller Mayer; children Jillian Richman Silva, Alison Nesti and Jeremy Mayer; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date. The family has asked that any donations be made to the American Lung Assn.