Robert Drew

Robert Lincoln Drew (born February 15, 1924) in Toledo, Ohio) is an American writer and director.

His first movie was "Primary" (1960), a documentary about the Wisconsin primary elections between Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy. It is considered to be one of the first direct cinema documentaries.

The next movie he directed was "Yanki No!" (1960), a documentary about anti-American sentiments in Cuba and Latin America. Drew formed Drew Associates with Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker in the early 1960's.In "Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment", Drew Associates producer Gregory Shuker took cameras into the Oval Office to observe presidential meetings over the crisis precipitated by Alabama Governor George Wallace, who physically blocked the entry of two African-American students to the University of Alabama. The program aired in October 1963 on ABC and triggered a storm of protest over the admission of cameras into the White House.

Drew made a few other short documentaries; his most recent was "From Two Men and a War", which recounts his experience as a World War II fighter pilot, and his encounters with the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Ernie Pyle.

External links

*imdb name|id=0237707
* [http://www.ifc.com/film/film-news/2008/04/tribeca-08-robert-drew-on-a-pr.php Interview with Robert Drew at IFC.com]

Literature

* Dave Saunders, "Direct Cinema: Observational Documentary and the Politics of the Sixties", London, Wallflower Press 2007