Full name, Bruce W. Paltrow; born November 26, 1943, in New York, NY; died ofcomplications due to pneumonia and throat cancer, October 3, 2002, in Rome,Italy. Director, producer, and writer. Though Paltrow was behind several popular television series in the 1980s, he was best known in later years for being the father of award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Beginning his entertainment career by producing the off-Broadway production of Someone's ComingHungry in 1969, Paltrow next became a writer for Screen Gems in the early1970s. In 1973 he produced and wrote the television movie Shirts/Skins, but his first major success came in 1978 when he served as creator and executive producer of the television series The White Shadow. The programran until 1981. Paltrow was co-executive producer, writer, and director of the television movie Operating Room in 1980, and two years later he made his feature film debut as director and producer of A Little Sex. Also in 1982 Paltrow was executive producer of the critically acclaimed television series St. Elsewhere, a medical drama which ran until 1988. Paltrowalso directed episodes of St. Elsewhere. Tattinger's was Paltrow's next foray into television series. He created, executive produced, and wrote and directed episodes of the show, but it was not well received and aired only in 1988. Though Paltrow tried to resuscitate the drama by revamping itas a comedy, Nick & Hillary, he was unsuccessful. After a break,Paltrow returned to network television in 1992 with the comedy series HomeFires, which he co-created and co-executive produced. He also directed the pilot episode. The following year he directed episodes of the critically acclaimed police drama Homicide: Life on the Streets. Paltrow made onelast attempt in executive producing a television series with the 1994 seriesThe Road Home. He then turned to feature films, directing his daughterGwyneth in Duets in 1998. The film was released in 2000 to mostly poor reviews. Married to actress Blythe Danner since 1969, Paltrow was also thefather of son Jake, a director. Paltrow was vacationing in Rome with his daughter to celebrate her thirtieth birthday when he became ill and died.
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