Christopher Lukas

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Christopher Lukas
Born (1935-03-06) March 6, 1935 (age 89)
New York City
OccupationTelevision producer, non-fiction writer, stage actor, director
Nationality United States
GenrePsychology non-fiction
SpouseSusan Ries (1962–2008; her death)
ChildrenMegan Lukas, Gabriela Tully

Christopher Lukas (born March 6, 1935) is an American writer, stage actor, television producer and director who, for the past fifty-five years, has worked primarily for public television. From 1963 to 1971 he produced for WNET in New York City, making over 200 hours of programming for the educational station. In 1969 he was promoted to director of programming.

His birth, early years, and education[edit]

Christopher "Kit" Lukas was born to Elizabeth and Edwin Lukas in New York. His mother was an actress, and his uncle Paul Lukas was an Academy Award–winning actor. His father was a lawyer who headed up the civil rights division of the American Jewish Committee, and made many efforts to promote equality between the races in America.[1] After his mother's death by suicide and his father's illness after her death, he was at the age of six enrolled in the coeducational Putney School boarding school in Vermont. He graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College and married Susan Ries—author and psychotherapist—in 1962. She died in 2008. His older brother was J. Anthony Lukas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer.[2] Christopher and Susan's two daughters -- Megan and Gabriela -- have three children between them.

Career[edit]

Television[edit]

After his work with WNET in NY, where perhaps his greatest personal accomplishment was the creation of the series SOUL!, the first black-produced program for African-Americans on public TV -- which ran for five years -- Lukas moved into the freelance world in 1971, working for public TV stations in San Francisco and Chicago, among others. His works for PBS include: The Mystery of Love, The World of Abnormal Psychology, Music From Aspen, Whose Death is It, Anyway?, Moyers: Report from Philadelphia, The Do It Yourself Messiah, and The Talking Walls of Pompeii. Pete Seeger's Legacy aired in over 150 cities in 2019. His non-television works include videos for non-profit organizations. In April of 2023, Lukas acted in, directed, and edited a half-hour version of Patrick Lennon's MARICON, a docudrama about journalist Bert Sugar's ruminations on the death of Benny Kid Paret at the hands of pugilist Emile Griffith.

Acting[edit]

While continuing to work in video and television, Lukas returned in 2002 to the field of acting. He has appeared off-Broadway and in regional theaters, playing a wide variety of roles in plays by Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, and Stoppard.

Writing[edit]

As a writer of books, he published across a spectrum of subjects, starting with end-of-life matters (These works include:

  • Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss & Survival (Doubleday) 2008 (ISBN 978-0-385-52520-6).
  • Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide (Scribners, Bantam Books) 1987 (ISBN 978-1-84310-847-4). Also published in Brazil, Russia, and China.
  • Staying in Charge: Practical Plans for the End of Your Life (John Wiley & Son) 2004 (ISBN 978-0-471-27424-7).
  • The First Year: Prostate Cancer (Marlowe Books.) 2005 (ISBN 978-1-56924-352-7).)

But he has broadened his scope to books such as:

  • Shrink Rap: a guide to psychotherapy by a frequent flier

a biography of his father and of Susan Lukas (Christopher's late wife.) As of 2020 he has written over 75 short stories. A book containing 25 of them (CARRYING A TORCH) was published in the spring of 2021 by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. His novel, INNOCENCE LOST, was published in the spring of 2023. His latest work - THE ANGRY MAN WHO WANTED TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE -- a portrait of Rafael Abramovitz -- came out in 2024.

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Man in the Brooks Brothers Suit. Amazon publishing. ISBN 9781977848611
  2. ^ Lukas, Christopher (2008). Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-52520-6. LCCN 2008006648. OCLC 202538435.
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