X-Files, Supernatural Director Kim Manners Dies

Veteran TV producer-director who worked on The X-Files and the CW's Supernatural dead from lung cancer

By Josh Grossberg Jan 28, 2009 3:52 PMTags
Kim MannersCW

Kim Manners, the veteran TV producer-director who helmed dozens of episodes of The X-Files and Supermatural, died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from lung cancer. He was 59.

Hailing from a showbiz family, Manners first broke into the TV business in the 1970s as a production manager and director on Charlie's Angels. He went on to work on such series as Star Trek: The Next Generation, 21 Jump Street and Baywatch until he got the call for The X-Files.

It was on Chris Carter's hit sci-fi mystery series where Manners made his mark, scoring four Emmy nominations for his work. All told he directed 52 episodes of The X-Files.

"Kim had a blazing intensity that inspired everyone—writers, producers, actors and crew...as long as he'd been a director, he never lost his passion for his work. Every time he got a script, he gave it his all," X-Files writer-producer Frank Spotnitz writes on his blog.

"Kim was an incredible force of life. It is hard for me to believe or accept that he is gone."

After The X-Files ended, Manners helped launch Supernatural in 2005, directing many of its most memorable episodes, including the season finales.

"Everyone at Supernatural is walking around in a daze, shocked and absolutely devastated," Supernatural mastermind Eric Kripke said in a statement. "Kim was a brilliant director; more than that, he was a mentor and friend."