Fred Coe
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Fred Coe (December 13, 1914 - April 29, 1979) was a television producer and director most famous for the The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1948-1955 and Playhouse 90 from 1957 to 1959. Among the live TV dramas he produced were Marty and The Trip to Bountiful (Philco-Goodyear), Peter Pan (Producers Showcase) and Days of Wine and Roses (Playhouse 90).
He was known as a patron saint of writers, discovering or advancing the careers of Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote, Tad Mosel, J.P. Miller, David Shaw, David Swift, N. Richard Nash, Roger O. Hirson, A.E. Hotchner, Herb Gardner and many others. Numerous important actors appeared on Coe's shows, which were directed by, among others, Delbert Mann, Arthur Penn and Vincent Donehue.
Coe also was a significant producer on Broadway. His plays include The Trip to Bountiful, The Miracle Worker, Two For the Seesaw, All the Way Home, A Thousand Clowns and Wait Until Dark. He also produced the film versions of The Miracle Worker and A Thousand Clowns, the latter of which he directed.
He was born in Alligator, Mississippi, and attended high school in Nashville, Tennessee before studying at the Yale Drama School.
He is buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs, New York.
His biography, The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television by Jon Krampner, was published by Rutgers University Press in 1997.
