Ivan Tors

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Ivan Tors (born Iván Törzs; June 12, 1916 – June 4, 1983) was a Hungarian playwright, film director, screenwriter, and producer known for non-violent but exciting science fiction, underwater adventures, and animal stories. He started a Miami film studio, Greenwich Studios, and later ran a music company.

Born into a Jewish family in Budapest, he wrote plays there before moving to the United States just before World War II. He arrived in July 1939 with his brother Ervin on the SS Hansa to study at Fordham University in New York City. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and later the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, he worked as a screenwriter for MGM. In 1952 he co-wrote and produced Storm over Tibet, his first film as a writer-producer, beginning a partnership with fellow Hungarian Andrew Marton.

Tors and Marton formed A-Men Films to make films about their own adventures. The Magnetic Monster (1953) started the OSI trilogy, followed by Riders to the Stars (1954) and Gog (1954). In 1955 he created the TV series Science Fiction Theater (1955–1957). He then produced Sea Hunt (1958–1961), an underwater action series, and The Aquanauts (1960–1961), later renamed Malibu Run. He created The Man and the Challenge and executive produced Ripcord, a skydiving action series. He also produced two Korean War films, Battle Taxi (1955) and Underwater Warrior (1958).

In the 1960s Tors shifted toward animal-themed projects, often making a film first and then turning it into a TV series. His animal films include Flipper (1963), Flipper’s New Adventure (1964), Zebra in the Kitchen (1965), Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965), Gentle Giant (1967), and Africa Texas Style (1967). He directed Rhino! (1964). His company did underwater filming for the James Bond film Thunderball and produced Around the World Under the Sea for MGM, as well as Daring Game and Hello Down There for Paramount. The studio also filmed Soupy Sales’ film debut, Birds Do It.

Tors was married to actress Constance Dowling from 1955 until her death in 1969. He died of a heart attack on June 4, 1983, in Mato Grosso, Brazil, where he was scouting a new television project. In 1989 he received the NOGI Award in Arts posthumously from the Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences.