McKinley Franklin editor Judith James, producer of “Quiz Show” and “Mad Dog Time” and Richard Dreyfuss’ longtime collaborator, died in Santa Barbara after a bout with cancer.
She was 86. James’ friend, Alex. B Block, confirmed the news to Variety. James’ was an accomplished producer who worked alongside Dreyfuss on projects including “Funny, You Don’t Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville,” “Prisoner of Honor” and “The Lightkeepers.” “From the minute I met Judy James at the Mark Taper Forum, I knew I had found someone who had the same passion for storytelling that I did,” Dreyfuss said in a statement. “In all the years we were producing partners, we were of like mind, not gender, and we always found a way to agree and wouldn’t have done anything without each other’s approval.
She was a wonderful woman and a great friend.” James was born in Worcester, Mass., and graduated from Vassar College in 1959 before moving to New York to work in theater.
There, she produced the 1963 off-Broadway play “In White America,” which won a Drama Desk prize. She would go on to work on various television series including “The Brotherhood of Justice,” “American Playhouse” and “Eleanor: In Her Own Words,” with the latter earning her an Emmy nomination.
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