Gil Cates to produce his tenth Oscar telecast

Dec 13, 2000 by Ian Evans

Producer Gilbert Cates will return to produce the Academy Awards® telecast for a tenth time.

No one else has produced as many telecasts as Cates. He broke the previous record held by Howard W. Koch in 1998.

“Gil makes producing an Oscar telecast seem easy – a tribute to his ability as an actor, along with everything else,” Academy President Robert Rehme said. “This is probably the toughest producing gig in town, and seems to get bigger and more difficult all the time. But with Gil at the helm, we can look forward to a smooth, well-blended production that will be creative and filled with surprises. And, most importantly to those of us at the Academy, we can concentrate on the Awards themselves, knowing that the presentation of them is in the hands of the master.”

“Ten is a nice round number,” Cates said. “I’m thrilled to be back and delighted that Bob has asked me once more. Hopefully this year’s show will be fun for all. I love to try and surprise our viewers.”

Gil Cates has a long and distinhguished career in both film and television. In the movie world, Gil produced and directed I Never Sang for My Father (1970), a film which earned three Academy Award® nominations, and directed Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), which collected two more Oscar® nominations.

His TV credits include an Emmy nomination as director of the 1991 television movie, Absolute Strangers, starring Henry Winkler. Other credits include Innocent Victims__(1996); 1990’s critically-acclaimed __Call Me Anna, the Emmy-nominated Do You Know the Muffin Man?__(1990), __Confessions: Two Faces of Evil__(1993), __Fatal Judgment__(1988), __Consenting Adult (1984) and Hobson’s Choice (1983).

For the past four years Cates has served as artistic director of UCLA’s Geffen Playhouse, for which he received the Jimmy Doolittle Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater.

The 73rd Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 25th, 2001. Stick with Digital Hit for all your Academy Awards® coverage.