Director of ‘The Waltons’ and ‘Hawaii Five-O’
Harvey Laidman, a television director known for his work on multiple episodes of “The Waltons,” “Matlock” and “7th Heaven,” died Jan. 3 in Simi Valley, California. He was 82.
Laidman’s death was confirmed Hollywood reporter by his son, Dan Laidman, whose cause of death was cancer.
During his decades in the industry, Laidman directed episodes of a wide variety of shows, including ‘Hawaii Five-O’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘Quantum Leap’, ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’, ‘Magnum, PI’, ‘ Jake and the Fatman’, ‘The Fitzpatricks’, ‘Eight is Enough’, ‘The Blue Knight’ and ‘Kojak’.
Laidman went on to direct a total of 11 episodes of ‘The Waltons’, as well as 10 episodes of ‘Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” 33 episodes of “Matlock” and 16 episodes of “7th Heaven,” which marked his last film credit in 2004.
Chester Spier, a set designer on “Matlock,” shared a tribute to his old friend on Facebook, writing that “Harvey had a brilliant sense of humor and a keen eye, always looking for a different angle to shoot from and adding a lot to the appearance and humor of the series.”
After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1964, Laidman began working at KTTV for three years before being accepted into the DGA Producer Training program. In the 1970s, he worked as an assistant director on films such as “Airport” and “Red Sky at Morning” before landing his first solo directing job on the third season of “The Waltons.”
In 2011, Laidman began directing at California State University, Northridge, where he taught until last year. Laidman is survived by his son, Dan Laidman, his wife, Susan Laidman, his sister and grandchildren.
