Steven Hilliard Stern Dead: ‘Devil and Max Devlin’ Director Was 80

Steven Hilliard Stern, a writer, director and producer, whose work included the Elliott Gould-Bill Cosby comedy The Devil and Max Devlin, died Wednesday in Encino, his daughter Melanie Stern announced. He was 80.

Stern helmed episodes of shows like Serpico, McCloud, Quincy M.E. and Hawaii Five-O, and directed more than three dozen telefilms, including Miracle on Ice, about the 1980 gold-winning U.S. hockey team, and 1983’s Still the Beaver, which reunited the cast of the sitcom Leave It to Beaver.

Stern also wrote and directed Running (1979), a drama starring Michael Douglas and Susan Anspach (she co-starred in The Devil and Max Devlin, which he produced, as well), and helmed Morning Glory (1993), featuring Christopher Reeve and Deborah Raffin.

A native of Timmins, Ontario, Stern graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto and began his career in advertising, writing and directing radio and TV commercials.

He relocated to Los Angeles in the 1960s and contributed material for the famed ABC variety show, The Hollywood Palace, where he collaborated with the likes of Steve Allen, Milton Berle, Bing Crosby and Liza Minnelli.

In 1967, Stern signed with MGM and wrote and directed the romantic comedy B.S. I Love You (1971). He went on to direct the sequel Harrad Summer (1974) and the comedy I Wonder Who’s Killing Her Now? (1975), starring Bob Dishy and Bill Dana.

Survivors also include his wife, Maggie.