Herbert Wise

Herbert Wise was a director best known for his work on the BBC miniseries I, Claudius. The series, set during the Roman Empire, aired in the U.S. in 1976 on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre.

I, Claudius garnered Wise, who also notably took charge of casting 236 parts for the project, an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series. The story unfolded over 13 episodes and starred Derek Jacobi in the title role and John Hurt as Caligula. It was also nominated for Outstanding Limited Series and won the Emmy for Outstanding Art Direction for a Drama Series.

Wise received Emmy recognition again in 1982, when he was nominated for directing the television movie Skokie, starring Danny Kaye, Eli Wallach and Brian Dennehy. The telefilm was based on the true story of the predominantly Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois, protesting the right for Neo-Nazis to march in their town.

Additionally, Wise directed Richard Burton as Winston Churchill in the 1997 BBC Hall of Fame production The Gathering Storm, which aired on NBC. Wise directed Jacobi again in the 1996 BBC telefilm Breaking the Code, about mathematician Alan Turing, as well as Albert Finney as the title character in 1984’s Pope John Paul II and Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in the 1985 romantic drama Reunion at Fairborough.

Wise died August 5, 2015, in London, England. He was 90.