John Nicolella

John Joseph Nicolella May 28 1945 February 21 1998 was an American film and television director and producer He is best known for his work on the 1980s television series Miami Vice Nicolella began his career working as an assistant director on the Ivan Passerdirected film Born to Win 1971 Other films soon followed the Paul Newmandirected film The Effect of Gamma Rays on ManintheMoon Marigolds 1972 Crazy Joe 1974 starring Peter Boyle Sweet Revenge 1976 starring Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston and Time Square 1980 He was also as a production manager on the films Saturday Night Fever 1977 Curse of the Pink Panther 1983 and coproduced Easy Money starring Rodney Dangerfield Joe Pesci and Jennifer Jason Leigh In 1984 he joined the production crew of Miami Vice directing a number of episodes until 1987 He continued working with the shows star Don Johnson directing the music video short film for Johnsons song Heartbeat from the album of the same name They reunited again when Nicolella served as executive producer for eight episodes of Nash Bridges Nicolellas other directorial television credits include MANTIS Crime Story Leg Work Gabriels Fire Dark Justice Melrose Place Key West Marker and Super Force He also directed a number of television films most notably Mike Hammer Murder Takes All 1989 and Rock Hudson 1990 as well as all four of the Vanishing Son films He also directed the theatrical features Sunset Heat 1992 and Kull the Conqueror 1997 his final directing credit before his death in 1998