William Asher, who
helped birth TV sitcom "Bewitched," co-created "The Patty Duke
Show" and directed hundreds of episodes of series including "I Love
Lucy" and"Bewitched," the latter starring his then-wife Elizabeth
Montgomery, has died in Palm Desert, Calif., according to the Desert Sun. He
was 90.
But even if he hadn't worked in television at all, Asher would be
remembered for writing and helming the beach movies starring Annette Funicello
and Frankie Avalon: "Beach Party," "Muscle Beach Party,"
"Beach Blanket Bingo" and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini."
(Amid working on these "Beach Party" films, he developed
the pilot of the beach-set comedy "Gidget" for Sally Field and
directed a number of episodes.)
He won an Emmy in 1966 for directing an episode of "Bewitched"
and was thereafter nominated three more times for his work on the show.
The creation of "Bewitched" was spurred by his desire to
see Montgomery keep working as an actress after their marriage in 1963.
"She didn't want to do anything, she wanted to have babies," Asher
said in a 1999 interview with the Bewitched.net fan website. Asher suggested
that they do a TV series together, and he wrote a pilot that was "very
close" to 'Bewitched' for Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems unit. But the studio
had a similar script on hand from sitcom vet Sol Saks, "The Witch of
Westport," featuring more of the Halloween-like trappings of, say,
"The Addams Family." Asher blended the disparate visions, emphasizing
comedy over cobwebs and boiling cauldrons. Saks, Asher acknowledged,
"hated it," even though the show became a staple of ABC's lineup from
1964-72 and a perennial favorite in syndication for generations.
He started out in the mailroom at Universal Studios, co-directed
the film "Leather Gloves" in 1948 before beginning work in television
in the medium's earliest days, directing episodes of "The Danny Thomas
Show" and "The Colgate Comedy Hour" among many others.
A job helming the pilot of the classic sitcom "Our Miss
Brooks," adapted from radio, led to his work on "I Love Lucy,"
for which he directed 100 episodes. He also produced and directed episodes of
"Fibber McGee and Molly."
He continued work as a director into the 1970s and beyond, helming
episodes of "The Paul Lynde Show," "Operation Petticoat,"
"Alice," the TV adaptation of "The Bad News Bears" and
"Private Benjamin." He helmed the reunion telepics "I Dream of
Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later" in 1985 and "Return to Green
Acres" in 1990.
Besides the "Beach Party" films, Asher also directed a
number of crime dramas for the bigscreen: "Mobs, Inc.," "The
Shadow on the Window" "Johnny Cool," as well as sci-fier
"The 27th Day." He took Avalon and Funicello onto the race track for
the action comedy "Fireball 500" and returned to the bigscreen in
1985 with the Walter Matthau-Charles Grodin comedy "Movers and
Shakers."
William Milton Asher was born in New York. His mother was the
actress Lillian Bonner; his father, Ephraim M. Asher, was an associate producer
on the 1931 horror classics "Dracula" and "Frankenstein."
The family moved to Los Angeles when William Asher was 10.
Asher was married four times, the second time to the late actress
Elizabeth Montgomery, the third time to actress Joyce Bulifant.
Asher is survived by fourth wife Meredith; a son and a daughter
from his first marriage, Liane and Brian; two sons, William Asher Jr. and
Robert Asher, and a daughter, Rebecca Asher, from his marriage to Montgomery;
four stepchildren; nine grandchildren; and eight step-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Sept. 29 at Desert Springs Church
in Palm Desert.
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