Norman Felton

Norman Francis Felton (April 29, 1913 – June 25, 2012) was a British-born American television producer, known for his involvement in shows such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Dr. Kildare. Background Felton was born in London, the son of John Felton, a lithographer, and Gertrude Anne Felton, a cleaning lady. He left school at 13 to go to work. In 1929, the family immigrated to the US, where they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Felton left his job as a truck driver to attend the University of Iowa where he received a bachelor's degree in 1940 and a master's in 1941. In 1940, he married Aline Stotts and had three children: Julie Anne, born in 1948, John Christopher, born in 1953, and Aline Elizabeth, born in 1957. Aline, her husband David Berkley, and their nine-month-old daughter, Jessicca, were murdered December 18, 1982 in Detroit near Wayne State Medical Center where David was a medical student. Three men were subsequently convicted of the triple-murders. Two were sentenced to life in prison, the third to 25-to-40 years in prison. Early career Felton started out directing community theatre before becoming a producer-director of radio programs, such as Curtain Time for NBC in Chicago. In 1949, he directed the three-week run of These Are My Children for NBC, which is considered the first daily daytime soap opera. In 1950, he moved to New York to direct live television shows. In 1952 he won an Emmy award for Robert Montgomery Presents. The 1960s The greatest successes of Felton's career came in the 1960s, when he produced and developed several classic television shows for Arena Productions including The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Dr. Kildare.