Trivia

Prolific television director who started out as a columnist for "The Boston Evening Transcript".

Decided to stay in Hollywood after a sojourn in California and began his film career in the mailroom at MGM (according to his own website, because MGM needed a softball catcher for their team). Before long, he worked his way up to script supervisor. He left the studio in 1951 because he wanted to direct and television provided the best opportunities.

In a 2003 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, he stated that he was forced to take on a small role of an executive in The Cincinnati Kids (1973) when an actor didn't show up. It was the only time he acted onscreen.

He was married to television host and writer Connie Martinson.

He began directing TV western series in the early 1950s.

He was a newspaper journalist before accepting a long-term job as an MGM script clerk in 1936.

Beginning with episodes of the series Conflict, Martinson became a prolific director for Warner Brothers Television.

Martinson was President Emeritus of the West Coast Jewish Theatre.

His first feature film assignment was Republic Pictures' 1954 film The Atomic Kid, a Mickey Rooney matinée vehicle.

In 1954-1955, he directed the first of Mickey Rooney's three failed situation comedy television series entitled The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan.