Terry Becker is an anachronism in many ways: in a period when people are walking off the street to produce motion pictures, he brings one of the most quietly celebrated directorial talents in Hollywood to independent production.

Starting back in New York over thirty years ago, Terry has directed and acted in hundreds of television dramas, studied writing in the same class at American Theatre Wing with Paddy Chayefsky, from Robert Anderson, broke into live TV in the same show that saw the debut of Ernest Borgnine, studied directing under Lee Strasburg, and took acting from both Stella Adler and Strasburg.

He's prepared himself in a hundred different ways to produce films, which he does with a quiet efficiency ordinarily not found in this noisy, self indulgent industry. He starred for several years as Chief Sharkey in the 60's teledrama "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" and therefore has his own fan following. So with producing, acting, directing and writing, he understands the problems that his creative people face when production begins. For this reasons he gets the best out of his people; what goes up on the screen is the best they can make.

Last fall he aired a pilot called "Pony Express" for CBS, which starred Victor French, Harry Crosby and John Hammond. Shooting for the episode called for drought-like conditions, yet it rained part of every single production day. The show still came in under budget. Not many pilots can make that statement, even without having to overcome hostile elements, including heavy, almost torrential rains. "How?" He just smiles. "That's what producers are supposed to do," he says. Maybe he has a private line to the weather bureau.

It started in New York years ago when they put Terry in the school plays to keep him out of trouble at PS 15. Later at Morris High School in the Bronx he continued to act and write and direct. He became a minor celebrity in school for his theatrical prowess. It was natural that he continue in the theatre. He had no inherited talent; his father was a tailor. But he had a gift, and he knew it.

He knocked on a lot of doors, but more importantly, he studied. The aforementioned American Theatre Wing became his second home. He studied and learned, and he got on any stage, any time he could, to act. After his TV debut with Ernie Borgnine in a Philco Playhouse he did several other appearances, but his starring role on a "Crime Syndicated" show months later really started his career. He was hired to act in over one hundred and seventy-five television shows.

When he directed a summer stock package starring Marie Wilson, she was so impressed that she asked him to come to Hollywood and direct what was to be a series pilot for her. Terry arrived in Hollywood, but the pilot never got made. Once here, he started acting again. Although his New York career had included directing and producing off-Broadway plays and television, his first achievement in Hollywood was as an actor, appearing in over two hundred TV plays and motion pictures. After "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" had surfaced, he worked on the pilot of a show called "Room 222" with Gene Reynolds. The pilot sold, and he directed eight episodes in two years, which won him an Emmy. From there he went back into directing, with such successful shows as "Mission Impossible," "Mash," "Love American Style," "Courtship of Eddie's Father," and many, many more.

In the early seventies Carroll O'Connor, an old acting friend of Terry's from New York, was becoming an international star in "All In The Family," and CBS offered him a production package as part of his reward for making the show such a hit. But Carroll didn't have time to produce the movies and pilots the contract called for, so he brought in his old buddy Terry, and Terry proceeded to put together properties for the two of them. He got "Bronk" on the air, starring Jack Palance, and "Banana Company," then a TV movie starring Carroll "The Last Hurrah," another pilot, "Bender," and this past year two more pilots, "Pony Express," and "Our Place."

Now back on his own with Becker Enterprises, Terry has accumulated a number of properties, series pilots and movies for television exposure, and is in the process of putting them together. He has deals with CBS to produce them, and as usual, without a lot of fanfare, he's working hard at putting it all together.

Why does an award-winning talent like Terry Becker spend twenty-four hour days producing films for television? Not just because he does it well and knows almost every aspect of the business from the ground up, that's not all. Terry is one of those happy surprises that loves what he's doing.

And that's the name of that tune!