Larry Auerbach (February 10, 1923 – December 20, 2014) was an American television director. He was born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York. Auerbach's career as a director coincided with the early years of television and the organization of the fledgling medium's directors during the first years after the Second World War. A director for half a century, he was a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

and one of its predecessors, the Radio and Television Directors Guild, which merged with the Screen Directors Guild in 1960 to form today's Directors Guild. He was a National Vice President of the Directors Guild and a member of its National Board.Directors Guild of America website

Directing for television

After a brief career in radio and later as a television stage manager for pioneering shows including ''Studs' Place'' with Studs Terkel and ''Kukla, Fran & Ollie'', Auerbach became the first director of ''

Mr. Wizard ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

'' in 1951, following a brief stint on ''

Zoo Parade ''Zoo Parade'' is an American television program broadcast from 1950 to 1957 that featured animals from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Presented by Marlin Perkins, the show was broadcast on Sunday afternoons on NBC. History The show was first ...

'', a live program from the

Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...

with

Marlin Perkins Richard Marlin Perkins (March 28, 1905 – June 14, 1986) was an American zoology, zoologist. He was best known as a host of the television program ''Wild Kingdom, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'' from 1963 to 1985. Life and career Perkin ...

that predated the long-running ''

Wild Kingdom ''Wild Kingdom'', also known as ''Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom'', is an American documentary television program that features wildlife and nature. It was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and it was revived in 2002. The show's second ...

''.

Directing for soap operas

In September 1951, Auerbach was hired to be the first director of the soap opera ''

Love of Life ''Love of Life'' is an American soap opera televised on CBS from September 24, 1951, to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation ''Search for Tomorrow'' premiered three weeks before ''Love of Life''; he created ''Th ...

'' on the CBS network. With Auerbach as the principal director, ''Love of Life'' was part of the early careers of actors

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Paul Michael Glaser Paul Michael Glaser (born Paul Manfred Glaser March 25, 1943) is an American actor and director best known for his role as Detective Dave Starsky on the 1970s television series, ''Starsky & Hutch''. In between his work writing and directing, Gla ...

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Bonnie Bedelia Bonnie Bedelia Culkin (born ) is an American actress. After beginning her career in theatre in the 1960s, Bedelia starred in the CBS daytime soap opera '' Love of Life'' and made her film debut in '' The Gypsy Moths''. Bedelia subsequently appea ...

Jessica Walter Jessica Walter (January 31, 1941 – March 24, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in over 170 film, stage and television productions. In film, she was best known for her role as a psychotic and obsessed fan of a local disc jockey in t ...

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, Ray Wise,

Jonathan Frakes Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and subsequent films and series. Frakes als ...

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and Peter Falk. ''Love of Life'' ran for 28 years, with Auerbach at the helm for most of the episodes and still directing when the show ended in 1980 (at the time, it was the second-longest running show on television).Greenfield, Jeff
CBS Evening News broadcast
February 1, 1980. The series concluded with Auerbach walking from empty set to empty set, turning off the lights, accompanied by

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

's song, "We'll Be Together Again". From there, Auerbach went on to direct several other New York-based soap operas, including '' All My Children'', '' One Life to Live'', '' Another World'' and ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other s ...

''. By the time of his retirement from directing in the 1990s, Auerbach had reached iconic status in New York

daytime drama A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored b ...

circles, with a career that spanned five decades. He was among those interviewed by

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...

for the comedy set on a soap opera studio, ''

Tootsie ''Tootsie'' is a 1982 American satirical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Dustin Hoffman. Its supporting cast includes Pollack, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Charles Durning, Geo ...

''. Given the never-ending production cycle of soap operas (without rerun seasons) and the massive number of minutes produced each week (many soap operas are now daily one-hour shows, as opposed to the early 15-, 30-, or 45-minute episodes), It seems likely that Auerbach has directed more dramatic (i.e., non-news) television than any other American director (approximately 3,000 hours).

Awards and recognition

Auerbach received the Directors Guild of America's Robert B. Aldrich Award in 1991, and was named a Honorary Life Member of the Directors Guild in 2004, joining a small, elite group that includes

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consid ...

, David Lean, Frank Capra,

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

Louis B. Mayer Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industr ...

, Jack L. Warner,

Lew Wasserman Lewis Robert Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American talent agent and studio executive, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades ...

, Elia Kazan, Chuck Jones,

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best A ...

and Jack Valenti. He also received a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Outstanding Directing in 1984 for his work on ABC's '' One Life to Live''. His recollections and advice on directing soaps are featured in the books ''The Box: An Oral History of Television 1920–1961'' by Jeff Kisseloff, ''Take One: Television Directors on Directing'' by Jack Kuney and ''Directing for Television: Conversations with American TV Directors'' by Brian G. Rose. His work on ''All My Children'' is featured in an episode of the 1982 PBS series ''Media Probes''. A collection of kinescopes of his early work on ''Love of Life'' is archived at

The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

in New York.

Death

Complications from brain cancer led to Auerbach's death in La Jolla, California, at age 91.''Obituaries in the Performing Arts''
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References

External links

*
Interview with Larry Auerbach about directing

Magazine profile on Larry Auerbach and soap operas

Larry Auerbach obituary

Directors Guild obituary statement

Media Probes episode featuring Larry Auerbach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auerbach, Larry American television directors Daytime Emmy Award winners 1923 births 2014 deaths American soap opera directors