October 28, 2021
The DGA recently learned that Capra Award-winning First Assistant Director Alex Hapsas has passed away.
A DGA member since 1964, Hapsas served eight terms on the Guild’s National Board as either a member, Associate or Alternate between the years of 1989 and 2005. He was also elected 17 times to serve as a member of the Eastern AD/UPM Council from 1977 to 2006, serving as the Council’s Second Vice Chair from 1989-1990. His Guild service also includes serving on a number of Guild Committees including service as a Committee Alternate for the Directors Guild Foundation from 2000-2003. In recognition of his service to the industry and to the Guild, in 1988 Hapsas was presented with the Frank Capra Achievement Award, the highest honor the DGA can bestow upon an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager.
After starting his Assistant Directing career on Larry Peerce's 1967 feature The Incident, Hapsas would go on to nearly 50 credits including features such as Alan J. Pakula’s Sophie's Choice and Presumed Innocent, Jack Clayton’s The Great Gatsby, Daniel Petrie’s Fort Apache the Bronx, Paul Mazursky’s Moscow on the Hudson and Michael Wadleigh’s Wolfen; movies for television such as Gilbert Cates’s To All My Friends on Shore, Buzz Kulik’s Rage of Angels and Peter Hall’s Orpheus Descending; and episodes of television series including Hothouse, Kojak, The Baby-Sitters Club, South Beach and Fortune Hunter.