Director Ted Post dies in Los Angeles aged 95

Veteran film and TV director Ted Post, who worked with Clint Eastwood on Hang ‘Em High and Magnum Force, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 95.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1918, Ted Post first directed Clint Eastwood in 24 episodes of his 1960s western series Rawhide.

Clint Eastwood insisted Ted Post direct his 1968 western Hang ‘Em High but reportedly fell out with him on Magnum Force, the second film in the Dirty Harry series.

Ted Post’s other directing credits include 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

He also worked on the 1980 pilot episode of long-running police series Cagney and Lacey, in which Loretta Swit played the Christine Cagney role subsequently taken on by Sharon Gless.

Ted Post would later blame Clint Eastwood for the decline of his career, accusing the actor of claiming to have had directed more of Magnum Force than he did.

“I believe that Clint became afflicted with a touch of megalomania,” he told one interviewer.

“Clint’s greed and ego began to affect his sensitivity and judgment.”

In 1996, Ted Post formed Pro Bono Productions, a non-profit corporation intended to showcase the skills of older members of the Hollywood community.

Clint Eastwood publicly endorsed the initiative, along with Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck and others.

The director’s final film was 4 Faces, a low-budget title released in 1999.

Ted Post died at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica on Tuesday and is survived by his wife Thelma, two children and four grandchildren.

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