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Daniel Melnick, 77, the producer who brought gutsy, smart movies like “Straw Dogs,” “Network” and “Midnight Express” to the big screen, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, his son, Peter, told the Los Angeles Times. He had recently undergone surgery for lung cancer.
Melnick was head of production at MGM and Columbia, where he helped develop the divorce drama “Kramer vs. Kramer” and the nuclear suspense thriller “The China Syndrome.”
Melnick also produced the 1960s spy-spoof television series “Get Smart” that starred Don Adams as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart.
