Longtime Oscars director Marty Pasetta dies in car accident
May 23, 2015, 7:24 PM
LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Marty Pasetta, a television veteran who directed Academy Awards telecasts for most of the 1970s and 80s, has died.
Pasetta died Thursday night in La Quinta, California, after being hit by an unattended car that was apparently left running. He was 82.
Pasetta directed 17 Oscar telecasts from 1972 to 1988. He also directed several Grammy Awards, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Elvis Presley’s 1973 “Aloha From Hawaii” concert, and numerous television specials that earned him eight Emmy awards.
His former publicist Jim Flood told the Palm Springs Desert Sun (http://desert.sn/1IWeebR) that Pasetta was often the go-to person for directing live shows in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and early 90s.
Riverside County Sheriff’s officials said the driver of the car that struck Pasetta was arrested on suspicion of DUI.
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