Film and television director Joseph Pevney died 18 May 2008; his wife Margo recently announced his death. Born 15 September 1911 in New York City, he directed 14 episodes of Star Trek, including “Arena”, “The City on the Edge of Forever”, “Amok Time”, and “The Trouble with Tribbles”.
Pevney’s son Jay said his father loved the series. “He was surprised at the longevity of it because it was not a popular series at the time,” Jay said. “It hit its real popularity after it was over,” in syndication.
Pevney began his entertainment career as a boy soprano in vaudeville, and then as an actor in and director of Broadway productions in the 1930s and ’40s. He served in the Army during World War II, and then moved to Los Angeles, where he made his movie acting debut in Nocturne (1946). He appeared in a total of six films before turning to directing. His directorial debut was Shakedown (1950), and in the 1960s, he moved to television directing.
Pevney’s genre credits include: The Strange Door (1951), Destination Space (1959), one episode of Bewitched (1965), eleven episodes of The Munsters (1964-66), the previously mentioned fourteen episodes of Star Trek (1967-68), one episode of Fantasy Island (1978), two episodes of The Incredible Hulk (1978-79), and three episodes of The Secret Empire (1979).
Pevney retired in 1985. In addition to his wife (his third, whom he married in 2002) and son Jay, he is survived by a daughter, Jan Pevney Holt; another son, Joel; two grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.