Trained in directing the classics at the Yale School of Drama, Badham was inspired to go to Hollywood when his younger sister, Mary Badham, received an Oscar nomination for her performance as Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962). He worked his way up from the Universal Studios mailroom to become an assistant to veteran producer William Sackheim. Badham's first associate producer credit appeared on the omnibus TV-movie, "Night Gallery" (1969), on which he also served as assistant director to neophyte filmmaker Steven Spielberg on a segment starring Joan Crawford.
Badham became a full-fledged TV director helming an episode of the acclaimed series, "The Senator" (1970-71) starring Hal Holbrook, one of the rotating segments of "The Bold Ones" on NBC. This precocious first effort won Badham his first Emmy nomination. Directing jobs followed on such diverse fare as "Cannon," "Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law," "Rod Serling's Night Gallery," "The Streets of San Francisco," and "Police Story." Badham's most celebrated TV work was the Emmy award-winning TV movie, "The Law" (1974) starring Judd Hirsch. This brisk and biting dramatization of the workings of a big city's criminal justice system also won the Peabody and Humanitas awards that year.
Badham graduated to the big screen when Spielberg, basking in the big money afterglow of "Jaws" (1975), decided not to direct a period baseball comedy involving the old Negro National League. Thus Badham was hired to direct "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings" (1976) starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor. Boasting smooth direction, excellent performances, glossy production values and a sharp intelligent screenplay by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins (who previously scripted "The Sugarland Express" 1974, Spielberg's feature debut), this is generally regarded as the best film to emerge from Motown Productions. He achieved his major breakthrough with the epochal "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), a signature film of the 70s.
Badham directed a string of slickly packaged star vehicles in the late 80s and early 90s: "Stakeout" (1987), starring Richard Dreyfus and Emilio Estevez; "Bird on a Wire" (1990), with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn; and "The Hard Way" (1991), showcasing Michael J. Fox and James Woods. As a change of pace, he helmed a thriller, "Point of No Return" (1993), starring Bridget Fonda, a virtual shot-for-shot remake of Luc Besson's French art-house smash, "La Femme Nikita" (1990). Badham continued this streak with the action thriller "Drop Zone" (1994) casting Wesley Snipes as a US marshal in hot pursuit of renegade stunt skydivers. He stumbled, however, with the thriller "Nick of Time" (1995), in which a mild-mannered Johnny Depp was forced to participate in a political assassination. Badham continued in the mystery vein with "Incognito" (1998), about an art thief. Inspired by the use of high-tech in his films, Badham has also created several computer software programs for movie production.