RIP Stanley Neufeld

Stan Neufeld, who started in Hollywood in 1941 as an assistant director on Westerns produced by his father and who worked continuously in the business until he was 80 years old, except only for service in the Merchant Marine during World War II, passed away on December 26 in Eugene, Oregon at the age of 91. Stan was the son of Sigmund and Ruth Neufeld and was born in Hollywood in 1923. He was raised in Hollywood and spent every free moment on the sets of movies produced by his father in the 1930's until he graduated from Fairfax High School in 1941. He immediately went to work on the production side as an assistant director. He also graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy and served for almost three years as an engineering officer on ammunition ships in the Pacific during World War II. In 1945 after his discharge, he worked on such Oscar winning movies as All the King's Men and he worked with Orson Welles on Shanghai Lady. By 1950, he joined Gene Autry at Flying A Productions for 6 years where he worked on the many series produced there, including The Gene Autry Show and The Range Rider. He dreamed of becoming a production manager and was inspired by the legendary production manager, Bert Sternbach, and he took over from Bert on one of the earliest TV shows filmed in Canada in the mid 1950's, The Last of the Mohicans. Following his return to Hollywood and more movies and series, he moved to New York in 1960 to head the production unit for the Emmy winning series, Naked City. Stan received his first producing credit on Naked City and worked on dozens of movies and TV series for the next 40 years. He was known for his vast knowledge of how to make pictures and keep them under budget and on schedule. He was almost always the first one on the set and the last to leave in his total of 60 years in the business. As the years passed, Stan also took two positions which took him away from the set, the first at Orion Pictures where he supervised the production of its films, including at least two Oscar Best Picture winners. For his last assignment, he joined a bonding company where he decided what films to bond. Again, he was touched by Oscar when one of the films he bonded, The English Patient, won the Oscar for best picture. He had to travel to North Africa during production and loved being on the set once again. His career ended only when the bonding company closed. His retirement from the business marked the end of 90 years in the business between his Dad who started in 1911 and Stan who followed him in 1941. Stan's recollections of his incredible career can be seen on the Director's Guild website, and he will be remembered by the many people in the business whose lives he touched. Stan also found time to run marathons and was a champion in his age group until just prior to his 80th birthday. Stan is survived by his wife, Lesley, his son, Tim, his daughter-in-law, Gabie, his brother Sig, whose Hollywood career was equally successful, Sig's husband Patrick, his two granddaughters and their husbands, Pam and Dale, and Kathy and Dane, his great granddaughter, Maya, and his faithful dog, Rocky. He loved his family, his work and the picture business, and he will always be remembered not just for his hundreds of credits and marathon medals, but more important for the hundreds of people in the business for whom he was a mentor and an inspiration.Through many of them, he is still on the set every day.