Emmy-winning TV veteran Krasny dies at 66

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 9:25 a.m.

Paul Krasny, an Emmy award-winning film editor for the "Mission: Impossible" television series who went on to direct more than 200 television shows and movies from the late 1960s through the mid-'90s, has died in Las Vegas. He was 66.

Krasny died at his home Monday of natural causes, his family said.

A memorial gathering for the Las Vegas resident of seven years was to be at 2:30 p.m. today at the Triangle Club, 4600 S. Nellis Blvd.

Krasny won the 1967 Emmy for individual achievement in film and sound editing for an episode of "Mission: Impossible," a weekly, espionage drama. Each episode began with the team leader, played by Peter Graves, listening to a tape recording that would self-destruct after giving instructions about the mission.

For the show's third season, Krasny was assigned to direct the fourth episode, "The Mercenaries," in which the covert team had to stop a mercenary leader played by Pernell Roberts. It originally aired on Oct. 20, 1968.

"Mission: Impossible" was the big break that just launched my brother's career," said Joanne Crane of Newport Beach, Calif. "In life and as a director, he was meticulous in everything he did."

Krasny directed 13 "Mission: Impossible" episodes, including the two-part "The Controllers" in 1969-70, "The Killer," guest starring Robert Conrad in 1970-71 and the 171st -- and last -- episode, "Imitation" in 1972-73.

The series was revived for a shorter run in the 1980s and spawned two recent major motion pictures starring Tom Cruise.

Krasny also directed episodes of "Moonlighting," "Mannix," "Hawaii Five-0," "Miami Vice," "V: The Series" and the locally shot "Crime Story."

Krasny directed more than a dozen movies and television mini-series, including episodes of the 12-part "Centennial" in 1978, which was adapted from James Michener's epic novel of the taming of the Colorado frontier.

Krasny also directed the 1990 film "Back to Hannibal -- The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn," in which the Mark Twain characters reunited as adults to solve a murder mystery.

Krasny was born Aug. 8, 1935, in Cleveland, the younger of two children of jeweler Harry Krasny and the former Mitzi Zaslove. After graduating from Los Angeles High, Krasny got his foot in the door as an 18-year-old film editor at Columbia studios.

His first film as a director was "Joe Panther," a 1972 action-adventure of a young Seminole Indian in Florida dealing with prejudice as he grows up in the white man's world. Harry Krasny had a walk-on part in the film.

In 1982 Krasny recalled the stark horror of Vietnam by directing the drama "When Hell Was in Season," the true story of Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton's torturous seven years as a prisoner of the Viet Cong.

In 1994 Krasny again teamed with actor Conrad for two made-for-TV movies: "Justice for the Innocent," where two fathers search for their children's escaped killer, and "Search and Rescue," the story of a former Marine who leads a civilian rescue team in a California mountain community.

Krasny retired as a director shortly after those productions.

In addition to his sister, Krasny is survived by his fiancee Whitney Freshwater of Las Vegas; a son, Kevin Krasny of Santa Clarita, Calif., a daughter, Lori Krasny-Stevenson of Salt Lake City; and two grandsons, Max Stevenson and Sam Stevenson.