Martin Tahse

Martin Tahse was a producer best known his work on ABC After School Specials, two of which earned him Daytime Emmy Awards.

Tahse was born April 24, 1930, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began his career in the theater, producing road tours of such Broadway hits as Funny Girl, The Miracle Worker and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

He began his TV career in the early 1970s with credits that included the telefilm Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and the last 13 episodes of the iconic children's program Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

Tahse produced more than 20 Afterschool Specials from 1974 to 1989. They often grappled serious issues, including pregnancy, suicide, alcohol abuse and bullying. He won Daytime Emmy awards in 1978 for episode "Very Good Friends" and 1981 for "A Matter of Time." He also won a Peabody Award in 1979 for another episode, "A Special Gift," about a teenage basketball player who wants to be a ballet dancer.

Along the way, he gave early breaks to several performers who later went on to successful careers, including Rob Lowe and Felicity Huffman.

His other TV credits included The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, CBS Schoolbreak Special, Words by Heart and Matters of the Heart.

In later years, he returned to the theater when he wrote a one-woman play based on the Allan Gurganus novel Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, which was staged at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in 2003, starring Ellen Burstyn.

Tahse died July 1, 2014, in Los Angeles. He was 84.