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{{Infobox person
| name=Ellis Mark Zacharias, Sr.<br>
(Host of television docudrama series ''Behind Closed Doors'')
| image=Ellis M Zacharias.jpg
| birth_date=January 1, 1890
| death_date=June 27, 1961 (aged 71)<br>
'''Resting place''':<br>
[[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| birth_place=[[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[Florida]]
| death_place=West Springfield, [[New Hampshire]]
| spouse=Clara Evans Miller Zacharias<br>
'''Two sons''':<br>
Ellis Zacharias, Jr.<br>
Jerrold M. Zacharias
| branch=[[United States Navy]]<br>
(Deputy Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence)
| serviceyears=1912-1946
| rank=Rear admiral
| battles=[[World War I]]<br>[[World War II]]
| awards=Legion of Merit (three times)
}}
'''Ellis Mark Zacharias, Sr.''' (January 1, 1890 June 27, 1961) was a rear admiral and naval attaché to [[Japan]], who served in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. After the second war, he was appointed as the deputy director of the Office of Naval Intelligence. After his military retirement, he hosted the [[television]] docudrama series, ''[[Behind Closed Doors]]''
==Biography==
From 1940 until 1942, Zacharias commanded the heavy cruiser, the ''USS Salt Lake City,'' which was part of the force that escorted [[Lieutenant General]] [[James Doolittle]] on the 1942 bombing raid over Japan.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url= http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/emzacharias.htm|title=Ellis M. Zacharias|publisher=arlingtoncemetery.net|accessdate=October 7, 2009}}</ref> During the war, he remained at the rank of captain.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793373,00.html|title=''Books: Fifteen Guns''|publisher=time.com|accessdate=October 7, 2009 | date=December 23, 1946}}</ref> He conducted [[radio]] psychological warfare against the Japanese high command.<ref>{{cite book |last=Linebarger |first=Paul M. A. |date=1955 |title=Psychological Warfare |edition=2nd |location=Washington |publisher=Combat Forces Press |page=204 }}</ref>
Zacharias was born in [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[Florida]]. He graduated in 1912 from the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[Annapolis]], [[Maryland]].<ref name=obit/> Zacharias served his first cruise aboard the new battleship ''USS Arkansas,'' which escorted [[U.S. President]] [[William Howard Taft]] to [[Panama]] to inspect the [[Panama Canal]] before water was turned into it. From 1913 to 1915, Zacharias served aboard the ''USS Virginia.''
He was then stationed for a time on the survey ship ''USS Hannibal.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ussslcca25.com/mcmur-08.htm|title=Our Captain|publisher=usslcca25.com|accessdate=October 9, 2009}}</ref> During [[World War I]], he served as a line officer aboard the ''USS Pittsburgh.''<ref name=obit/>
His television series, ''Behind Closed Doors'', is a unique 26-episode program set during the [[Cold War]] hosted by and occasionally starring Bruce Gordon (1916-2011) in the role of Commander Matson. The series focuses on how the former [[Soviet Union]] stole [[United States|American]] missile secrets and proposes steps to prevent further [[espionage]]. ''Behind Closed Doors'' is based on Zacharias files in naval intelligence and his war-time experiences. He offers comments at the conclusion of each segment.<ref>Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, 1946–Present,'' [[New York City]]: Ballantine Press, 1992, p. 79.</ref> Before he appeared on ''Behind Closed Doors'', Zacharias had also narrated a radio series entitled ''Secret Missions''.<ref name=obit/> The titles of both programs were taken from books that he had written.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abaa.org/books/36048965.html|title=''Secret Missions; The Story of an Intelligence Officer''|publisher=abaa.org/books|accessdate=October 7, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Behind-Closed-Doors/Ellis-M-Zacharias/e/9780548446171|title=''Behind Closed Doors: The Secret History of the Cold War''|publisher=barnesandnoble.com|accessdate=October 7, 2009}}</ref>
Zacharias retired from the U.S. Navy in 1946 after thirty-four years of service as the result of a heart seizure. He died at his home in West Springfield, [[New Hampshire]], at the age of seventy-one of complications from another heart seizure. He was interred on July 3, 1961, at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in Arlington, [[Virginia]].
His wife, the former Clara Evans Miller (1897-1992), is interred with him in Arlington.
At the time of her death, she was living in Falls Church, Virginia. Their two sons, Ellis M. Zacharias, Jr. and Jerrold M. Zacharias, were both Naval Academy graduates. Ellis (February 1, 1926 – April 17, 2006), a [[Businessperson|businessman]],<ref>{{cite web|date=January 4, 1989|title=Tulsa Library plans series on Travels with Tulsans | url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/tulsa-library-plans-series-on-travels-with-tulsans/article_dfa9fc5c-3470-5afa-8797-96661be9ff99.html |publisher=''The Tulsa World | location=Tulsa, Oklahoma | accessdate=November 12, 2013}}</ref> [[Invention|inventor]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patentbuddy.com/Inventor/Zacharias-Jr-Ellis-M/8688135 | title=Ellis M Zacharias Jr Inventor | date=May 8, 1992 | website=PatentBuddy | accessdate=November 12, 2013}}</ref> and avid amateur [[photographer]], died in [[Tulsa]], [[Oklahoma]], at the age of eighty.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 20, 2006|title=ZACHARIAS – Ellis M Jr | url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/zacharias----ellis-m-jr/article_9236a27a-7e01-5cec-a21d-3169ea2fdfc3.html |publisher=''The Tulsa World''| accessdate=November 12, 2013}}</ref> Jerrold Matthew Zacharias (1927-2020),<ref>CPT Jerrold Matthew “Zack” Zacharias Sr. (1927-2020) - Find a Grave Memorial, accessed April 14, 2022.</ref> also a career Navy man, received the Navy Cross as a pilot in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/archive/nfl/nflshow.php?id=2448 | title=CAPT JERROLD M. ZACHARIAS, USN | publisher=Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc. | accessdate=November 12, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.epnaao.com/BIOS_files/REGULARS/Zacharias-%20Jerrold%20M.pdf | title=Jerrold M. Zacharias, Captain, USN (Ret.) | website=The Golden Eagles Roost | publisher=The Golden Eagles | accessdate=November 12, 2013}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zacharias, Ellis}}
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:Rear admirals]]
[[Category:Television]]
[[Category:Radio]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Florida]]
[[Category:New Hampshire]]