Film, TV producer made ‘A Man Called Horse’

Sandy Howard, a film and television producer whose credits include “The Island of Dr. Moreau” and the western “A Man Called Horse,” has died. He was 80.

Howard died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, spokeswoman Jaime Larkin said.

Howard had been a resident of the hospital’s Alzheimer’s and dementia care facility, Harry’s Haven, for 10 years.

Born Aug. 1, 1927, in the Bronx, N.Y., Howard wrote short stories as a teenager that he sold to Liberty, a weekly magazine.

He started his career as a publicist for Broadway shows before directing TV’s “Howdy Doody Show” at age 19, according to the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

He went on to produce “Captain Kangaroo,” then became executive producer for “The Barry Gray Radio Show” from 1951 to 1958, the fund said.

In the 1960s, Howard moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in film.

“A Man Called Horse,” a drama starring Richard Harris as an aristocrat captured by the Sioux, attempted to depict Native American life in a more realistic and authentic way than Hollywood movies had previously done. He also produced the 1976 sequel, “The Return of a Man Called Horse” and the 1982 follow-up, “Triumphs of a Man Called Horse.”

He produced dozens of other movies, including 1976’s “Echoes of a Summer” with Jodie Foster, 1977’s “The Island of Dr. Moreau” starring Burt Lancaster and 1979’s “Meteor” with Sean Connery.

Services were pending. Donations in Howard’s memory may be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, P.O. Box 51150, Los Angeles, CA 90051-9706.