James Burrows, the 11-time Emmy Award-winning director who co-created “Cheers” and helped turn long-running sitcoms like “Taxi,” “Friends,” “Will & Grace” and “The Big Bang Theory” into fan favorites, died Friday. He was 85 years old.
“We celebrate the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of James 'Jimmy' Burrows, who passed away peacefully today surrounded by his loving family,” his family said Friday in a statement to People. “For more than five decades, Burrows was one of the most influential and beloved directors in television history. As a legendary director, mentor and creative force, he helped shape generations of comedy and brought immeasurable joy to audiences around the world.”
A master of multi-camera comedy, Burrows began his career filming episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1974 and “The Bob Newhart Show” in 1975. He soon joined the quality-oriented production company MTM, which counted James L. Brooks, Steven Bochco and Gary David Goldberg among its alumni.
“They were smart enough to know that it's better to have a director who can talk to the actors than a director who can move the cameras,” Burrows said in a 1995 interview with The Times. “You can't really learn to do something fun, but you can learn to move cameras.”
Burrows was born in Los Angeles and later moved with his family to New York, where he attended the High School of Music & Art. He graduated from Oberlin College and completed a graduate program at the Yale School of Drama. He worked for years as a stage manager with his father, a playwright and director, assisting on shows such as “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” starring Moore and Richard Chamberlain.
He cemented his name on television with “Cheers,” co-creating the lively Boston tavern “where everyone knows your name” with Glen and Les Charles. Over the course of its 11 seasons on the air, Burrows directed 237 of its 275 episodes, emerging as a behind-the-scenes comedy legend.
“You bring them in, sit them down, and they talk. That's all 'Cheers' was,” Burrows told The Times. “The word is more important than the nonsense. It was about the words, that's how I was trained, how my father was trained, how anyone who reads books is trained. It's the word.”
His father, Abe Burrows, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter and director who starred in radio comedies and co-wrote the books for the Broadway musicals “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” The younger Burrows said growing up watching radio comedies helped hone his ear for humor.
“I know what's funny and I probably know the best way to tell the joke. Whether it's walking out of a room, looking that way or that way,” Burrows told The Times in 2010. “I just have a feeling about it.”
Another skill you learned from your father? Working standing.
“I would go over the scenes over and over again,” Burrows said. “He created this wonderful camaraderie, which I always try to do. I love doing shows together because that's where camaraderie is created.”
Burrows, often considered a fatherly manager, attempted to bridge the gap between actors and writers, notably taking the stars of “Friends” on a trip to Las Vegas before directing 15 episodes of the hit comedy. He also hosted a party for the cast of “Mike & Molly” to establish a good relationship because he believed that when everyone liked each other, it showed on screen.
The actors would know when a joke landed when they heard Burrows laugh as the scene unfolded.
“I'm the guy who wants you to walk the comic strip for me,” he said. “Take it as far as you want and I'll bring it back. Sometimes I'll take it further. But trust me.”
With his list of successes (he is credited with directing several shows on NBC's primetime “Must See TV” lineup of the 1990s), Burrows amassed considerable wealth and, from a young age, was constantly sought after by those seeking his magic touch for their show. However, it also saw its fair share of flops: Henry Winkler's “Cafe Americain” with Valerie Bertinelli and a series of promising pilots that never took off. He also felt that ABC's “The Associates” and CBS' “The Class” were canceled too soon.
From 1998 to 2006, Burrows directed every episode of “Will & Grace,” the Emmy-nominated sitcom about a woman and her gay best friend that aired on NBC for eight seasons during its original run. For Burrows, it was the funniest show he ever worked on. He was also behind the camera for the sitcom's 2017 revival, which brought back the antics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen for three more seasons.
“It was a fairy tale literally and figuratively,” he said in a Hypable interview in 2016. “It wasn't real-world in a weird way. These were exaggerated characters. Even though they were based on Will and Grace, there was that exaggeration that made the things you could do and get away with on that show so extraordinary.”
He won his 11th Emmy Award as executive producer on the 2019 all-star revival of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times'.” A year earlier, he was nominated for directing the television special “'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons'.”
James Burrows behind the scenes.
(Chris Pizzello / Invisión / Associated Press)
Throughout his career, Burrows had a penchant for directing pilots because it meant “you're better than an episode director” and he could create something new in the writer-driven television medium. He was also attracted to “more urbane, more urbane and more sophisticated” comedies. He tried filmmaking once – 1981's “Partners” with Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt – and said the result confirmed his belief that he was made for television.
“I'm not a film guy. I'm a theater guy. For what I do, I need a live audience,” he told the Television Academy in 2016.
Among his favorite television moments are the pilots of “Frasier” and “3rd Rock From the Sun”; the long-awaited kiss between Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) and Woody's (Woody Harrelson) wedding in “Cheers”; Reverend Jim (Christopher Lloyd) taking his driving test in “Taxi”; Ross (David Schwimmer) being attacked by a cat in “Friends”; and Will, Grace, Jack and Karen taking a bath together in “Will & Grace.”
Late in his career, Burrows continued to work in the multi-camera sitcom format, which is filmed in a studio, usually before a live audience. In 2013, he was honored by the Television Academy, and in 2016, he celebrated directing his 1,000th episode of television programming, surpassing the mark with an episode of “Crowded.” NBC marked the feat with the special “Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute.” According to critics, the show, billed by several outlets as the elusive “Friends” reunion and which seemed like a living eulogy for Burrows, fell short and did not do justice to the legendary director.
He was nominated for dozens of Emmy Awards and Directors Guild of America Awards throughout his long career.
“Our guild has lost a legend,” Directors Guild of America President Christopher Nolan said in a statement Friday. “With more than 40 years directing more than 1,000 episodes of the most critically acclaimed and beloved sitcoms of all time, James Burrows was the modern master of sophisticated comedy and a beloved member of the DGA.”
He is survived by his second wife, stylist Debbie Easton; four daughters; and seven grandchildren.
