Vanessa Greene, a veteran producer of TV movies, died on Dec. 13 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. after a 13-year battle with breast cancer. She was 63.
She began her career in the 1980s, producing films for the small screen including “Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home,” “Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case,” and “Under the Influence,” which starred Andy Griffith and Keanu Reeves. That 1984 film earned her a Scott Newman Center Drug Awareness award for its portrayal of substance abuse.
In the 1990s, Greene worked for USA Network and for CBS and specialized in reining in over-budget productions. She was also a senior executive president at CBS during this time, and continued to produce movies and mini-series while consulting on creative, legal and production problems.
Greene occasionally wrote as well, and is credited with writing an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in 1990. For her final project, she wrote, directed and produced “Stella: Searching for a Place to Be,” which follows veterans with post-traumatic stress living off the grid. The film was shot in summer 2016, and it, along with an accompanying documentary, has not yet been released.
Born just outside of London, she moved to the U.S. with her husband, director David Greene, in the 1970s. The two later divorced, and she would frequently travel between the U.S. and England.
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Greene is survived by her son, Linsel Greene, her sister Rhona Linsell and stepchildren Laurence Donohue-Greene and Nic Greene.
