David Greene, 82; Emmy-Winning Director of Noted TV Miniseries

David Greene, four-time Emmy-winning director of such memorable television miniseries as “Rich Man, Poor Man” and the first episode of “Roots,” has died. He was 82.

Greene, who also earned Emmys for the television movies “The People Next Door” and “Friendly Fire,” died Monday in Ojai of pancreatic cancer.

“I was very overwhelmed being asked to do it,” Greene told The Times in 1997 for an article on the 20th anniversary of the landmark showing of “Roots,” which was based on Alex Haley’s book about his family’s history as slaves. Greene said he had read the script “and couldn’t stop crying.”

Greene, a prolific director, producer and writer, and an actor in his youth, was also nominated for directing the 1984 miniseries “Fatal Vision.”

That production, based on a book by Joe McGinnis, told the story of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, a Green Beret captain convicted of killing his pregnant wife and two daughters at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in 1970. MacDonald, appealing to national television audiences, said intruders had committed the murder and injured him.

Greene particularly enjoyed biography. Among his other biopics for television were “The Betty Ford Story” for ABC in 1987, the Liberace segment of “Behind the Music” for CBS in 1998, and several movies or miniseries drawn from actual events, such as “The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald” in 1977 and “Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story” in 1992.

He was born Feb. 28, 1921, as David Brian Green in Manchester, England; he added the final “e” to his name later. He began his career as an actor, working in British film and on stage with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh at the Old Vic. In 1951, he toured the U.S. and Canada in “Antony and Cleopatra.” He remained in Canada for five years, working for the Canadian Broadcasting Co.

Greene worked as a freelance director for many years, equally at home in Canada, the U.S. and England.

He settled in Los Angeles in 1970 after earning his first Emmy for “The People Next Door.”

Among his motion picture credits are the 1973 “Godspell,” which he wrote and directed, earning a Writers Guild nomination for the screenplay. He also directed “Sebastian” in 1968 and “Gray Lady Down” in 1978, among others.

Greene directed episodes of such popular television series as the original “The Twilight Zone,” “The Persuaders!” and “Ellery Queen.”

A conscientious objector during World War II, Greene was involved in civil rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Native American Rights Fund and the Campaign for Economic Democracy.

Greene is survived by his wife, Kelly, and four children from a previous marriage: Lindy Treasurer, Nic Greene, Laurence Donahue-Greene and Linsel Greene.