John Badham (born August 25, 1939) is a film director. Though born in the United Kingdom (in Luton, Bedfordshire), John Badham was raised in the state of Alabama in the U.S. and became a naturalized citizen at the age of seven.
He attended Indian Springs School in Alabama and college at Yale University. He had worked for television for years before his breakthrough with Saturday Night Fever in 1977.
As well as numerous film credits, Badham has also directed and produced for TV, including credits for Rod Serling's Night Gallery.
He is the decade-older brother of Mary Badham, Oscar nominated for her child-acting role in To Kill a Mockingbird. (Outside of her only role as an adult -- decades after he became well known -- all her acting credits preceded his first film or television credit by several years.)
English-born "Army brat" John Badham is the son of English actress Mary Hewitt and the stepson of an American Army general. Raised in Alabama and schooled at Yale, he cut his teeth producing and directing for TV before making his feature debut with Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, The (1976). Badham's breakthrough credit was the box office smash Saturday Night Fever (1977), made the following year; other hits on his resume include Blue Thunder (1983), WarGames (1983), and Short Circuit (1985).
