Biography
Harvard-educated director Lee H. Katzin was a protégé of filmmaker
Robert Aldrich. Katzin's official directorial debut was the Aldrich-produced melodrama
Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice (1969); in truth, a year or so earlier he had helmed the disastrous
The Phynx, which had an extremely limited release in 1970. His big-budget break came when he replaced
John Sturges as director for
Le Mans (1971); Katzin's documentary approach in this film was at odds with his usual self-conscious, gimmicky visual style. The director's TV credits include "Movie of the Week" fare like
Along Came a Spider (1970) and
Ordeal (1973), pilot films like
Man From Atlantis (1977), and several episodes of the British sci-fi series Space: 1999 (1975-77). In 1988, Katzin directed The World Gone Wild, his first theatrical feature in years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide