Vanessa Andrea Greene

1954 - 2017
Vanessa Greene
Sept 15, 1954 – Dec 13, 2017

Vanessa Greene, veteran producer of 1980s and '90s television died Wednesday evening December 13th, at the age of 63 after a 13-year battle with breast cancer. Born, Vanessa Linsell, on September 15th 1954 just outside London and moved to New York in the 1970s with her husband, British director David Greene (Roots; Rich Man, Poor Man; Friendly Fire, etc.). Though their marriage wouldn't last (they divorced in 1981), it launched Vanessa into a career as a producer for television in California.

In the 1980s her films addressed such difficult issues as traditional gender role-reversal in "Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home" and the meaning of consent with "Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case" starring Mickey Rourke and Linda Hamilton. She was most proud of 1984's "Under the Influence" which earned her a Scott Newman Center Drug Awareness award. This portrait of a family scarred by alcoholism, starring Andy Griffith and Keanu Reeves, was powerful television for its time, and has achieved a level of cult status among substance abuse support communities.

Vanessa earned the respect of her crew by taking a grounded hands-on approach, working on-set whenever possible. She was not above getting her hands dirty when needed, and would not hesitate to help move furniture if it made the set run more smoothly. She made a point to eat with the rest of the crew and took the time to know those who worked on her projects.

Though she strived to make socially relevant films throughout her career, the 1990's found her working for USA Networks, and for CBS as a "damage-control specialist" brought in to whip over-budget productions back into shape. Though she excelled as a senior executive producer role, she found the choice of projects frustrating, and she eventually sought independence in an effort to gain more autonomy, writing a handful of screenplays and an "episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Over the last decade, she split her time between the US and England, battling the disease which would end her life and gathering investment for her final project. "Stella: Searching for a Place to Be", a film exploring the world of veterans living off-the-grid with post-traumatic stress, was shot in Utah the summer of 2016, with Vanessa at the helm despite her advanced condition. When asked about the severity of her cancer, she would jokingly reply, "Tomorrow is promised to no one." Thanks to tremendous support from friends and colleagues, both Stella and its accompanying documentary are close to completion.

A British transplant without many local relatives, Vanessa built her family out of the friends she made wherever she went and her memory will live on in the thousands of people whose lives she touched. Other than her extended English family, she is survived by her son, Linsel Greene, her sister Rhona Linsell and stepchildren Laurence Donohue-Greene and Nic Greene.

Memorial Services are planned for the spring.