'Roots' Producer Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/18/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Veteran producer Stan Margulies, 80, whose credits include such landmark TV mini-series as "Roots" and "The Thorn Birds" and the cult feature film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," died Tuesday of cancer, reports Reuters. The first feature movie he produced was 1963's "40 Pounds of Trouble," starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette. His final credit was the 1999 A&E cable TV production "Dash and Lilly," about the relationship of writers Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman.