William Asher (born August 8, 1921) is an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early directors in the budding television industry, producing or directing over two dozen of the leading television series.
With television in its infancy, he introduced the early sitcom Our Miss Brooks, adapted from the radio show, and then became the leading director of I Love Lucy, in 1952, directing most of the episodes over the next 5 years. In 1964 he produced and directed Bewitched, which became one of the leading shows on television, and starred his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery. As a result of his early success, he was thought of as an “early wunderkind of TV-land,” and is today considered “the man who invented the sitcom.”
He was nominated four times for an Emmy, winning once for directing Bewitched in 1964. He was also nominated for the DGA award in 1951 for I Love Lucy.
Born in New York City, his mother was actress… read more
William Asher (born August 8, 1921) is an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early directors in the budding television industry, producing or directing over two dozen of the leading television series.
With television in its infancy, he introduced the early sitcom Our Miss Brooks, adapted from the radio show, and then became the leading director of I Love Lucy, in 1952, directing most of the episodes over the next 5 years. In 1964 he produced and directed Bewitched, which became one of the leading shows on television, and starred his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery. As a result of his early success, he was thought of as an “early wunderkind of TV-land,” and is today considered “the man who invented the sitcom.”
He was nominated four times for an Emmy, winning once for directing Bewitched in 1964. He was also nominated for the DGA award in 1951 for I Love Lucy.
Born in New York City, his mother was actress Lillian Bonner and his father was Jewish American producer Ephraim.M. Asher, whose film credits include Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931), which he co-produced with Carl Laemmle. His father died when he was 11. In his teens, Asher worked in the mailroom at Universal Studios trying to work his way up to becoming a filmmaker.
When World War II began, he enlisted in the army at age 15 by lying about his age, and served in the Army Signal Corps.When the war ended, he returned to Hollywood, and in 1948, at the age of 27, he co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed a low budget film, Leather Gloves. He was soon drawn away from films by the new medium of television. He began writing short stories for magazines along with some short films for television, until he received an offer by CBS Studios, which was looking for new directors.
His first TV pilot turned into a long-running series, Our Miss Brooks, which was a TV version of the popular radio show of the same title, starring Eve Arden. In 1952, Desi Arnaz asked him to also direct a few episodes of the recently started series, I Love Lucy, and the show survived its first season. By the time the show was discontinued in 1957, Asher had directed 110 out of the show’s 179 episodes, along with a large portion of Our Miss Brooks, which stayed on the air until 1956. Looking back at the first year of I Love Lucy, Asher says they knew the show was good, but they didn’t know it would last:
His most famous works include directing episodes of The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950), I Love Lucy (1951), Our Miss Brooks (1952), General Electric Theater (1953), Make Room for Daddy (aka The Danny Thomas Show) (1953), December Bride (1954), The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956), Sally (1957), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Patty Duke Show (1963), Bewitched (1964), Gidget (1965), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Private Benjamin (1981) and Alice (1976–85). He produced all 254 episodes of Bewitched (1964 to 1972), as well as directing many episodes. Both series still run in syndication in dozens of languages today.
He also directed several movies, and wrote and directed the popular beach movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon – Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). —wikipedia
