In this piece, filmed in August 2011, Ron Simon, curator at the Paley Center for Media in New York City, looks at the importance of the Franklin J. Schaffner–directed teleplay of 12 ANGRY MEN, its key actors, and its impact on live television at the time.
The television version of 12 ANGRY MEN was written for the series “Westinghouse Presents Studio One” by Reginald Rose and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It first aired on September 26, 1954.
In this interview, conducted in August 2011 at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, film scholar Vance Kepley looks at 12 ANGRY MEN’s evolution from teleplay to film.