Philip Capice

Born June 24, 1931, seasoned television producer Philip Capice earned his master's degree in dramatic arts from venerable Columbia University. Capice proved himself a master of the hard-hitting television movie right from the outset of his career, producing the eerie 1974 telefims "Bad Ronald" and "The Stranger Within." He rose to further prominence with the TV movie "Helter Skelter," a controversial Emmy nominee based on the true-crime book about the Manson Family murders. After winning the Emmy for "Sybil," the harrowing biographical account of a woman with multiple personality disorder, Capice began to focus on producing serialized television with the undercover-spy thriller "Hunter" and the Brooklyn coming-of-age show "Flatbush." The TV veteran made a complete departure from his gritty modus operandi as one of the executive overseers of the cornucopian family sitcom "Eight is Enough." Before retiring from the business altogether in 1986, Capice made television history as a producer of the frothily followed prime-time soap "Dallas," leaving millions of viewers with bated breath for an entire summer as they pondered the question of who shot oil magnate J.R. Ewing. Capice passed away in 2009 at the age of 78.