
Person
Ted Peshak
Directing · 1917–2006 · Plymouth, Iowa
Biography
Ted Peshak was born Theodore Joseph Peshak on Dec. 22, 1917, in Plymouth, Iowa. He was the house director for Coronet Instructional Media, a major producer of the genre known as "classroom training films", in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the actors appearing in his films were his family, friends and neighbors from Libertyville, IL, where he lived. He was trained as a journalist at the University of Iowa and was a photographer during his Army service during World War II, and also photographed and directed training films during his army hitch. After working at a variety of jobs, including an advertising agency, he went to work for Coronet as a director, his debut there being Shy Guy (1947) (its leading man was future Bewitched (1964) star Dick York). He eventually left Coronet and started his own company, Peshak Films, and directed industrial films for a variety of clients, including McDonald's and the American Health Care Association. He left the filmmaking business in the 1960s and became a successful real-estate developer in Illinois. He died in Lake Forest, IL, on Oct. 9, 2006, of colon cancer.
Known for

Good Table Manners
Director

Appreciating Our Parents
Director

Are You Popular?
Director

Understand Your Emotions
Director

Shy Guy
Director

What to Do on a Date
Director

Act Your Age (Emotional Maturity)
Director

How Do You Know It's Love?
Director

Going Steady?
Director
Developing Friendships
Director
Filmography
- 1952Choosing Your Marriage PartnerDirector
- 1952Date EtiquetteDirector
- 1951Good Table MannersDirector
- 1951Make Your Own DecisionsDirector
- 1951What to Do on a DateDirector
- 1951Improve Your PersonalityDirector
- 1951Going Steady?Director
- 1950How Do You Know It's Love?Director
- 1950Good SportsmanshipDirector
- 1950The Fun of Making FriendsDirector
- 1950Understand Your EmotionsDirector
- 1950Developing FriendshipsDirector
- 1950Appreciating Our ParentsDirector
- 1950Earning Money While Going to SchoolDirector
- 1950Control Your EmotionsDirector
- 1949Act Your Age (Emotional Maturity)Director
- 1949Choosing Your OccupationDirector
- 1949Are You a Good Citizen?Director
- 1949Our Living ConstitutionMr. Herndon
- 1949Exercise and HealthDirector
- 1949Family LifeDirector
- 1948Everyday CourtesyDirector
- 1947Shy GuyDirector
- 1947Are You Popular?Director
- —How Billy Keeps CleanDirector
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