Subject: R.I.P. Bruce Bilson (US director, "The Odd Couple", "Get Smart", and more)
Bruce Bilson, Emmy-Winning Director on 'Get Smart'
and 'The Odd Couple,' Dies at 97
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Bruce Bilson, who won an Emmy for directing "Get Smart" and
directed hundreds of TV episodes, died on Jan. 16 in Los Angeles.
He was 97.
Bilson was best known for directing the secret agent sitcom
parody "Get Smart," for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1968. Over the span
of his decades-long career, Bilson directed over 400 episodes of
television, including episodes of "The Odd Couple," "Hogan's
Heroes," "The Patty Duke Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show,"
"MASH," "Hawaii 5-0," "The Flash," "Viper" and "Dinosaurs."
Bilson graduated from UCLA in 1946, part of the institution's
first film school graduating class. After serving in the Air
Force, Bilson became an assistant editor on Groucho Marx's "You
Bet Your Life," and later an assistant director on "Wyatt Earp"
and "The Andy Griffith Show."
Bilson was born on May 19, 1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Hattie
Bilson, a screen and magazine writer, and George Bilson, a
producer at Warner Brothers and RKO.
Bilson married Mona Whiteman in 1955, with whom he had two
children. In 1984, he married actress Renne Jarrett, who he was
married to until his death.
He is survived by his wife, his children, Danny Bilson, Julie
Bilson Ahlberg, and his stepson, Drew Stauffer (Liz), in addition
to his grandchildren, Rachel, Hattie, and Rosemary Bilson, John
Pierce (Courtney), Sidney and Suki Sekula, Bowie Stauffer, and
great-grandchildren Briar Christensen and Everly Pierce.
A memorial service for Bilson will be held at Hillside Memorial
Park in Los Angeles on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.
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https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/bruce-bilson-dead-get-smart-director-1236637044/>
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