Karen Arthur

Few female directors have forged as lengthy a career in Hollywood as Karen Arthur, who has gone somewhat unnoticed, as the majority of her work has been done for television. Arthur originally began her career as a dancer, working extensively on the New York stage in the 1960s. She moved to Los Angeles and beginning in 1967, started appearing in small roles that capitalized on her good looks. She also began directing for the stage, and in 1974, she stopped acting to concentrate on a directing career. Her first film, 1975's "Legacy," was an experimental feminist feature, and 1978's "The Mafu Cage" was an off-beat psychological thriller, with Lee Grant and Carol Kane playing two disturbed sisters. In 1976, Arthur began directing for television, quickly finding work on larger budgeted TV-movies, mini-series, and episodic dramas. Arthur became known for a technique not often used in television: the "long take," in which the action is choreographed in a single camera shot. She used this technique on "Cagney & Lacey," winning an Emmy award for her direction in 1985. Arthur directed one more theatrical feature in the '80s -- the 1987 thriller "Lady Beware," starring Diane Lane -- but then turned her concentration to TV movies, including the controversial 1985 drama "The Rape of Richard Beck." She also specialized in celebrity docudramas, making films about The Jacksons, Jim & Tammy Faye Baker, and Woody Allen & Mia Farrow. She often works with her husband, cinematographer Tom Neuwirth.