Actor Sues Dog the Bounty Hunter Producers

NEW YORK, May 23: Boris
Krutonog, a Russian-born actor who says he created the A&E reality series Dog
the Bounty Hunter, has sued the show's producers for at least $5
million that he claims they owe him in royalties, salary and other compensation,
according to an AP report.

Krutonog, who had roles in
movies like Air Force One, The
Hunt for Red October and The
Italian Job, claims that A&E
Television Networks and others failed to pay him for the fourth season of Dog
the Bounty Hunter as its creator
and co-executive producer.

According to papers that
Krutonog filed this week in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, the producers of
the Honolulu-based show have also
have failed to give him accountings of money earned from home video, TV
syndication and other sources.

Krutonog also complains in
court papers that he was the target of "abusive, violent and outrageous
conduct" and "episodes of psychotic behavior by" the show's
stars, Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife Beth. Court papers say that
he introduced himself to "Dog" Chapman in 1995. Believing that
Chapman's colorful life and exploits could be the basis of a movie or a TV
show, Krutonog signed contracts with Chapman and received the exclusive right
to develop the program. Between 1995 and 2003, Krutonog alleges that he
developed what became Dog the Bounty Hunter. The papers noted that A&E agreed to pay him
as co-executive producer "for the life of the program" in order to
obtain Krutonog’s consent to produce and air the show.

Krutonog claims that
A&E television producer David Houts and his companies, Hybrid Films and
D&D Television Productions, breached their contract with him. He is seeking
compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.

Filming for the fifth
season of Dog the Bounty Hunter
recently began. The show had been pulled off the air in November 2007 after
Chapman was heard in a taped telephone conversation using a racial slur to
refer to his son's girlfriend, who is black. Last week, Chapman and A&E
executives announced the return of the show, with Chapman saying he was
"ashamed" of his racist remarks.

—By Irene Lew