Stuart Rosenberg (August 11, 1927 – March 15, 2007) was an American film and television director, whose notable works included the movies Cool Hand Luke (1967), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). He was noted for his work with actor Paul Newman. Rosenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sara (née Kaminsky) and David Rosenberg. He studied Irish literature at New York University in Manhattan, and began working as an apprentice film editor while in graduate school. After advancing to film editor, he then transitioned into directing with episodes of the syndicated TV series Decoy (1957–59). It was the first police series on American television built around a female protagonist. Over the next two years, Rosenberg directed 15 episodes of the ABC police-detective series Naked City, also shot in New York City. Fifteen episodes of The Untouchables followed, eight of the anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, five of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and three of The Twilight Zone, along with episodes of Adventures in Paradise, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, Rawhide with Clint Eastwood, and Falk's The Trials of O'Brien, among other shows. He won a 1963 Emmy Award for directing "The Madman", one of his 19 episodes of the courtroom drama The Defenders. Following the Lutheran-financed U.S.-German co-production Question 7 (1961), filmed in West Berlin, Germany, Rosenberg shot the 1965 TV-movie, Memorandum for a Spy and the 1966 telefilm Fame Is the Name of the Game before making his major-studio debut with the Paul Newman hit Cool Hand Luke (1967). Rosenberg had come across Donn Pearce's chain gang novel and developed the film with actor Jack Lemmon's production company, Jalem. Years later, Rosenberg would replace Bob Rafelson on another prison movie, Brubaker (1980) starring Robert Redford. Other Rosenberg films include The April Fools (1969), with French actress Catherine Deneuve in her American debut opposite Jack Lemmon; the Newman movies WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972) and The Drowning Pool (1975); the Walter Matthau police-detective thriller The Laughing Policeman (1973); the Charles Bronson action picture Love and Bullets (1979); and another action movie Let's Get Harry (1986), for which Rosenberg used the Directors Guild of America pseudonym Alan Smithee. He was famous for straight dramas and, especially, crime films. The most acclaimed movie he did after 'Cool Hand Luke' was The Pope of Greenwich Village with Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, and Daryl Hannah. He made his last film, the independent drama My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, in 1991. In 1993, Rosenberg became a teacher at the American Film Institute. Among his students were those who would go on to make names for themselves: Todd Field, Darren Aronofsky, Mark Waters, Scott Silver, Doug Ellin and Rob Schmidt. Rosenberg died in 2007 of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was survived by his wife, Margot Pohoryles, whom he had met at NYU; son Benjamin Rosenberg, a first assistant director; as well as four grandchildren. His students' films The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Alphabet Killer, and The Wrestler that were released in 2008 were dedicated in memory of him.
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Biography from TMDB.
- August 11, 1927
- March 15, 2007 (aged 79)
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
- Director, also writer and producer
- 19 on MovieCove · 41 credits in all
What are Stuart Rosenberg's films like?
Across their 15 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Morality.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 15
Light 2 · Serious 4 · Dark 9
Grounded 11 · Stylized 4 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 2 · Charged 6 · Intense 7
Steady 9 · Shifting 6 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 11 · Some laughs 4 · Funny 0
Slow burn 8 · Even-paced 7 · Relentless 0
Casual 4 · Engaged 10 · Full focus 1
A split, not a type: Easy watch 2 · Affecting 6 · Heavy 7
Resolved 11 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy4
- Bittersweet6
- Tragic3
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Stuart Rosenberg's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 8 of their 19 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (6).
Subscription and free streaming for Stuart Rosenberg's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
41 credits, 19 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Let's Get Harry(1986)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
Hot Shots (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
Brubaker(1980)
Midcredits score: 86th percentile of all films
The Amityville Horror(1979)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films
Love and Bullets(1979)
Midcredits score: 26th percentile of all films
Voyage of the Damned(1976)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
The Drowning Pool(1975)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
The Laughing Policeman(1973)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films
Pocket Money(1972)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
WUSA(1970)
Midcredits score: 26th percentile of all films
Move (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1970)
The April Fools(1969)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films
Cool Hand Luke(1967)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Fame Is the Name of the Game (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
A Small Rebellion (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
The Trials of O'Brien (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
Run for Your Life (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
Asylum for a Spy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
For the People (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
Reporter (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
Calhoun (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1964)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
Espionage (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
The Richard Boone Show (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)
Ben Casey (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
Bus Stop (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
Question 7(1961)
Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all films
The Defenders (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)
The Barbara Stanwyck Show (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1960)
Murder, Inc.(1960)
Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all filmsEscape to Sonoita (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1960)
Hong Kong (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1960)
Adventures in Paradise (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1959)
The Twilight Zone(1959)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Rawhide (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1959)
Naked City(1958)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
Decoy(1957)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all shows
Richard Diamond, Private Detective (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1957)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
Career shape
A full career of 41 titles from 1955 to 1991.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Stuart Rosenberg's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 51st percentile, the median of all 15; across their 15 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 47th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th7
- 25th to 49th5
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
10 of their 19 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved3
- Crowd Pleaser10
- Broadly Agreed2
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the atmosphere 67/100 and the pacing 35/100 in their films, across 14 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Stuart Rosenberg's work okay for kids?
Across up to 6 MovieCove titles with content scores, 1 of the 4 categories sits near the median of all films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Stuart Rosenberg work with?
People who share at least 2 of Stuart Rosenberg's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Lalo Schifrin shares the most, 5.
Writers
- Hal DresnerShared titles: The April Fools (1969), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Hal Dresner
Actors
- Paul NewmanShared titles: The Drowning Pool (1975), Pocket Money (1972), WUSA (1970), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 4 shared titles with Paul Newman
- Matt ClarkShared titles: Let's Get Harry (1986), Brubaker (1980), Pocket Money (1972)See all 3 shared titles with Matt Clark
- Murray HamiltonShared titles: Brubaker (1980), The Amityville Horror (1979), The Drowning Pool (1975)See all 3 shared titles with Murray Hamilton
- Strother MartinShared titles: Love and Bullets (1979), Pocket Money (1972), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 3 shared titles with Strother Martin
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Lalo SchifrinShared titles: Brubaker (1980), Love and Bullets (1979), The Amityville Horror (1979), WUSA (1970), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 5 shared titles with Lalo Schifrin
- Bob WymanShared titles: The Laughing Policeman (1973), Pocket Money (1972), WUSA (1970), The April Fools (1969)See all 4 shared titles with Bob Wyman
- Robert BrownShared titles: The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Brubaker (1980), The Amityville Horror (1979)See all 3 shared titles with Robert Brown
- Fred J. KoenekampShared titles: Love and Bullets (1979), The Amityville Horror (1979)See all 2 shared titles with Fred J. Koenekamp
Producers
- Hawk KochShared titles: The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), The Drowning Pool (1975)See all 2 shared titles with Hawk Koch
- John ForemanShared titles: Pocket Money (1972), WUSA (1970)See all 2 shared titles with John Foreman
- Carter De Haven Jr.Shared titles: The April Fools (1969), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Carter De Haven Jr.
- Gordon CarrollShared titles: The April Fools (1969), Cool Hand Luke (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Gordon Carroll
Mixed roles
- Benjamin RosenbergShared titles: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1991), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)See all 2 shared titles with Benjamin Rosenberg