Michael Schultz

After undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University, Milwaukee's own Michael Schultz attended Princeton, where in 1966 he directed his first play, Waiting for Godot. Schultz joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough production was To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, which he restaged for television in 1971. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby, Cooley High). Eventually, Schultz would concentrate on such pure-entertainment projects as Car Wash (1976) and Which Way is Up? (1977). He managed to survive the potential career-killer Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), continuing to churn out brainless but profitable efforts like Scavenger Hunt (1979) and Disorderlies (1987). As of late, Michael Schultz has been busier on television than in films, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as Young Indiana Jones and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide