Personal History
Philip DeGuere Jr. was born in 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio.[1] He died of cancer in 2005[2] in San Francisco, California, leaving a widow, Alison, and three kids.[1]
Professional History
DeGuere worked in TV, mainly as a writer and producer of TV series and ocassionally of TV films. He ocassionally dealt with other positions, including production assistant and creative consultant. Only three times he directed, one of them being the telefilm Dr. Strange (1978).[1] The project was intended to become a pilot for a TV series, but CBS decided to not follow with it, instead broadcasting it as an autonomous TV movie.[3] DeGuere claimed to have tried to follow the costume aesthetics but, so as to avoid an unrealistic depiction, made concessions (like accepting a cape only for a suit that seems like an opera-attending gentleman,[4] even if there are scenes of Strange in a superhero-like costume). The movie was criticized[5] for departing from the comic material, making many plot changes and having a big budget - but still getting some silly-looking special effects. As the writer and director, DeGuere had great control of what was produced and, in the words of DeGuere's personal friend and composer Paul Chihara, DeGuere was elated at the project but, when the rerun of Roots got better ratings, DeGuere was devastated.[2]