Producer of 'All That Jazz' and enduring TV dramas

Daniel Melnick, 77, a producer and former head of production at MGM and Columbia studios who was known for making literate and carefully crafted films that included "Network," "All That Jazz" and "Roxanne," died Oct. 13 at his home in Los Angeles. He had recently undergone surgery for lung cancer and died of multiple ailments.

Inspired by the success of the James Bond movies, Mr. Melnick made his mark on popular culture with the 1960s spy-spoof television series "Get Smart," which starred Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart.

"James Bond and Inspector Clouseau -- those are the two biggest hits out there. Take a hint," Mr. Melnick once told his writers, Buck Henry and Mel Brooks.

"Get Smart" won several Emmy Awards, but Mr. Melnick received his in 1966 for producing "Ages of Man," which featured John Gielgud in a Shakespearean turn, and in 1967 for a presentation of "Death of a Salesman." Mr. Melnick shared his Emmys with producing partner David Susskind.

The first film Mr. Melnick produced was Sam Peckinpah's violent 1971 drama "Straw Dogs." The next year, Mr. Melnick joined MGM, and he rose to head of worldwide production, mining the vaults to help create the "That's Entertainment" greatest hits franchise. He also oversaw such films as the Neil Simon comedy "The Sunshine Boys" and "Network," the 1976 biting satire of television.

While in charge of production at Columbia in the late 1970s, he helped develop the divorce drama "Kramer vs. Kramer," the nuclear power-plant drama "The China Syndrome" and the violent "Midnight Express." For nine months in 1978, Mr. Melnick served as president of Columbia after studio president David Begelman was ousted in an embezzlement scandal.

The next year, Mr. Melnick produced Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz," which earned praise for experimenting with the musical genre, and followed with 1980's "Altered States," a sci-fi horror film that starred William Hurt. Mr. Melnick returned to the musical with 1984's "Footloose," about a teen's irrepressible need to dance.

He worked with Steve Martin on "Roxanne," the 1987 comedy that starred Martin in an updated version of Cyrano de Bergerac, and produced Martin's 1991 comedy "L.A. Story."

Mr. Melnick also worked on the groundbreaking "Making Love," a 1982 film about a man who leaves his wife for another man.

"Everyone was absolutely terrified it would hurt their careers," Mr. Melnick told the New York Times in 1997 of trying to cast the male lead. "We finally cast Harry Hamlin . . . and I had to spend a lot of time persuading him that it wouldn't damage his career any more than Jimmy Cagney playing a damaged murderer damaged his. We were flying in the face of one of the last taboos."

Mr. Melnick was born April 21, 1932, in New York. He attended New York University and served in the Army in the 1950s. In 1955, he married Linda Rodgers, daughter of composer Richard Rodgers, and had a son, Peter, who became a composer. Mr. Melnick and his wife divorced in 1971.

He never remarried but had a daughter from another relationship. Survivors include his two children and two grandchildren.

Mr. Melnick joined CBS as a staff producer in 1954 and jumped to ABC in the late 1950s, rising to vice president of programming. For ABC, he developed and scheduled such programs as "The Fugitive," "The Untouchables," "The Flintstones" and "77 Sunset Strip."

With Susskind and Leonard Stern, Mr. Melnick partnered in the production company Talent Associates. Among the TV series he produced were the late-1960s ABC police drama "N.Y.P.D." For years, he held monthly poker games that included such players as Martin, Simon, Chevy Chase and Johnny Carson.

"In our game, we all became adolescents," Mr. Melnick told the New York Times in 2005.

-- Los Angeles Times