David L. Wolper, Producer Known for 'Roots' Dies

David L. Wolper, the award-winning television documentary producer best known for executive producing the blockbuster TV miniseries “Roots" and for orchestrating the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, has died. He was 82. Wolper died Tuesday at his Beverly Hills home of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease, said Dale Olson, his longtime publicist.

During his long career, Wolper oversaw the production of more than 700 films that have won more than 150 awards, including two Oscars, 50 Emmys, seven Golden Globes and five Peabody Awards. Recognized by TV Guide in 1998 as one of the “45 People Who Made a Difference" in shaping the medium of television—and one of TV's top eight creative forces—Wolper was described as a producer whose “many contributions to broadcast history have embedded themselves in the American psyche."

Among Wolper's documentary series and series of specials were “The Story of," “Biography," “Hollywood and the Stars," “The March of Time," “Appointment With Destiny," the “National Geographic Specials" and “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau." Broadening his scope in the mid-1960s to producing feature films while continuing his prolific documentary output, Wolper produced theatrical motion pictures such as “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) and “L.A. Confidential" (1997).

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