James B. Harris

Veteran Hollywood industry figure who has served triple duty as a producer, director, and screenwriter. Harris’ most notable contribution to American cinema was producing several seminal early films directed by Stanley Kubrick. The Harris-Kubrick Pictures Corporation turned out such provocative features as “The Killing” (1956), “Paths of Glory” (1957), and “Lolita” (1962).

Harris and Kubrick went their separate ways after “Lolita” with the producer venturing on to form James B. Harris Productions in 1963. As a producer-director, Harris’s subsequent feature credits were relatively sparse: “The Bedford Incident” (1965), a Cold War naval drama starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier; “Some Call It Loving” (1973), which marked his screenwriting debut, an uneven modern retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” set in southern California starring Zalman King, Tisa Farrow, and Richard Pryor; “Fast Walking” (1982), a prison drama starring James Woods; and “Cop” (1988), which he scripted, also starring Woods. He also produced the Don Siegel-directed Charles Bronson vehicle, “Telefon” (1977).

Harris returned to directing and writing with “Boiling Point” (1993), a dark cop drama starring Wesley Snipes, Lolita Davidovich, and Dennis Hopper. This was a surprisingly old-fashioned crime story featuring tough-guy dialogue and morally ambiguous characters. —TCM