William Fruet

Willliam Fruet (January 1, 1933) is a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter. He is best known for co-writing Goin Down the Road (1970) with Donald Shebib.

Early Life
Fruet is a graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal. He moved to Toronto in 1952, where he sought a career in acting. He eventually landed a role in Drylanders (1963), the first dramatic feature officially produced by the National Film Board.

Career
In 1962,  Fruet moved to California, where he directed several movies for several small industrial film companies. He returned to Canada after 3 years, and worked as an editor for CBC, where he met Donald Shebib. They cowrote Goin Down the Road (1970), which won a Canadian Film Award for Best Screenplay. In 1971, Shebib directed another one of Fruet's scripts, Rip-Off (1971). Fruet also wrote Slip-Stream in 1973, and wrote and directed the Canadian Film Award-winning Wedding in White (1972) (the film won for best picture).

Though Frueet's career showed promise, it never lived up to his potential. Fruet sought to achieve mainstream success in his films, and was a vocal proponent of increased commercialization in Canadian cinema. However, his commerical career (including films such as Search and Destroy (1978), Funeral Home (1980), and Spasms (1981) were typical, forgettable, tax-shelter era slasher movies.

Since the 1980s, Fruet has mostly directed television shows in Canada.

Selected Filmography

 * 1970: Goin' Down the Road (writer)
 * 1971: Rip-Off (writer)


 * 1972: Wedding in White (writer, director)
 * 1973: Slip-Stream (writer)
 * 1978: Search and Destroy
 * 1980: Funeral Home
 * 1981: Spasms


 * 1988: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: If Looks Could Kill (director)
 * 1996-1997: Goosebumps: 8 episodes (director)
 * 1998-2003: Da Vinci's Inquest: 2 episodes (director)