Howard Zieff
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Howard Zieff (21 October 1927 – 22 February 2009) was an American director, television commercial director, and advertising photographer.
Zieff was born in Los Angeles, California, growing up in Boyle Heights. He studied art for one year at Los Angeles City College, then dropped out in 1946 to join the United States Navy. He learned photography at the Naval Photography School in Pensacola, Florida and then, after his discharge, at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He became a commercial photographer in New York City in the 1950s, earning a reputation in the 1960s as one of the city's best-known advertising photographers. His campaigns included "You Don't Have To Be Jewish" for Levy's rye bread, "Mamma Mia, that's a spicy meatball" for Alka-Seltzer, and ads for the New York Daily News, Polaroid, and Volkswagen.
Zieff's films include The Main Event (1979), Private Benjamin (1980), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), The Dream Team (1989), My Girl (1991) and My Girl 2 (1994).
Zieff retired from directing after My Girl 2 was released as he became increasingly debilitated by Parkinson's disease.
Zieff died aged 81 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at 8:10am on Sunday, February 22, his wife (retired motion picture literary agent) Ronda Gomez-Quinones at his side.
