Larry Elikann, 80; TV Director Noted for Dramatizations

Larry Elikann, television director who earned Emmy, Peabody, Golden Globe, Humanitas and Christopher awards and was responsible for such dramatizations of true stories as USA’s “A Mother’s Prayer” and CBS’s “Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills,” has died. He was 80.

Elikann, who began his career as a cameraman on such early live telecasts as “Philco Playhouse,” died Wednesday in Los Angeles of unspecified causes.

Although the versatile director handled his share of popular television shows -- “Barnaby Jones,” “Dallas,” “Knot’s Landing,” “Falcon Crest,” “Hill Street Blues” -- he was better known for his creative approach to television movies and miniseries illustrating ripped-from-the-headlines news events and social issues.

For the cable movie “A Mother’s Prayer” starring Linda Hamilton in 1995, he depicted a mother dying of AIDS who was trying to find adoptive parents for her son. The television drama was inspired by New York Daily News stories on Brooklyn mother Rosemary Holmstrom, and Elikann cast many AIDS patients in background roles.

“Larry Elikann’s direction is so terse and unvarnished,” a Times reviewer wrote, “that there’s no time for tears.”

The director’s efforts on the two-part retelling in 1994 of the Menendez brothers’ slaying of their parents five years earlier earned similar remarks from former Times critic Howard Rosenberg: “Director Larry Elikann pushes the four hours along at a snappy pace, skillfully guiding viewers through the murkiness.”

Another California crime story dramatized by Elikann for the small screen was the 1989 NBC two-part movie “I Know My First Name is Steven,” based on the childhood abduction and sexual slavery of Steven Gregory Stayner of Merced from 1972 to 1979.

Reviewing the two-part drama, which earned Elikann an Emmy nomination, Rosenberg noted: “There is a suspenseful edge to Larry Elikann’s direction. You don’t want to watch, but you can’t stop watching.

Born Lawrence S. Elikann in New York City, he earned degrees at Brooklyn College (now part of the City University of New York) and Walter Harvey College. He was a staff sergeant in the Army Signal Corps during World War II.

He worked as technical director for NBC from 1948 to 1964, then spent a few years directing commercials. He began directing TV shows in 1968.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, the former Corinne “Corky” Schuman; two daughters, Jo-Anne Elikann and former Mattel Chief Executive Jill Barad; his twin brother, Gerry; eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

The family has asked that, instead of flowers, memorial donations be sent to the Louis Warshaw Prostate Cancer Center, 8631 W. Third St., Suite 1001E, Los Angeles, CA 90048, or to the Dr. Jay N. Schapira Medical Research Foundation, 8635 W. Third St., Suite 750W, Los Angeles, CA 90048.