Fred R. Krug, a producer, director and cinematographer who labored on such nature-focused TV packages as Animal World, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and The Magical World of Disney, has died. He was 94.
Krug died June 4 of pure causes at his dwelling in Solvang, California, his daughter, Vivian Krug-Cotton, instructed The Hollywood Reporter.
A pioneer in wildlife TV documentaries and journey exhibits, the Swiss-born Krug dined with Picasso, labored with The Beatles on the Hollywood Bowl and danced with the Nicholas brothers.
He additionally collaborated with the likes of Gypsy Rose Lee, Louis Armstrong, Cornel Wilde, Jayne Mansfield, Dana Andrews, Jean Simmons, Agnes Moorehead, Artwork Linkletter and Tippi Hedren.
Krug’s profession took him to the jungles of Peru, Ecuador and Brazil; to India, Zululand, South Africa and the Serengeti in Kenya; to the excessive nation of New Zealand; and to the mountains of Italy.
Friedrich Roy Krug was born on Aug. 30, 1929, in Bern, Switzerland. He bought his first film digital camera at age 10 on layaway in a images store and began making quick movies the place he lived in Basel, Switzerland.
He grew to become a photographer and author for an area newspaper at 16, coated the leisure and artwork scene in Europe and translated and wrote a German model of the Bram Stoker novel Dracula.
Krug got here to Los Angeles and organized a gathering with Peter Ballbusch, a fellow Swiss native who was working at MGM as a montage director. Ballbusch helped Krug get work in Hollywood.
After a stint within the U.S. Military, for whom he served in intelligence, ran a base radio station and booked movie star leisure, Krug returned to L.A. to renew his profession in leisure.
He served because the stage supervisor for Jack LaLanne’s fabled health program and was a cinematographer and film-videotape director at KCOP-TV in L.A.
Krug’s ardour of animals, primarily giant cats, led him to Invoice Burrud Productions, the place he labored on Animal World and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, early primetime exhibits about wildlife.
For The Magical World of Disney within the Nineteen Seventies, he operated a digital camera and directed the installments “The Proud Chicken From Shanghai,” “The Secret of Outdated Glory Mine” and “The Golden Canine.”
He contributed to such different TV initiatives as The American West, The World of Reptiles, The Nice Apes, Adventures of the Wilderness Household and Mountain Household Robinson. And he was a digital camera operator on NBC’s CHiPs from 1978-80.
Krug was endorsed for membership into the DGA by Roy Disney and in 1987 served as a planner and picket captain of the guild’s solely walkout, often called the “5 Minute Strike” for its brevity. He additionally was a member of the Producers Guild.
An avid non-public pilot, Krug was energetic in Rotary Golf equipment in Hollywood and, after his retirement, Santa Ynez.
Along with his daughter, survivors embrace his spouse of 68 years, Rosemary, and his son-in-law, Samuel.