Donald L. Taffner (November 29, 1930 - September 6, 2011) was an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

. Taffner and his wife-business partner Eleanor Bolta were responsible for bringing to the U.S. such television shows as ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American television sitcom that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. Developed by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West, it is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the ...

'', ''

Too Close for Comfort ''Too Close for Comfort'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from November 11, 1980, to May 5, 1983, and in first-run syndication from April 7, 1984, to February 7, 1987. Its name was changed to ''The Ted Knight Show'' ...

'' and ''

The Benny Hill Show ''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...

''.

Biography

Taffner was born on November 29, 1930, in New York. He began working as a mail delivery agent for the

William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best-known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ...

in 1952. Between 1955 and 1959, he served as an agent. He later worked at

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

's New York office until, in 1963, he left the company to form DLT Entertainment (formerly D.L. Taffner Ltd.), a production company that began offering American series to international broadcasters. In 1975, Taffner acquired from

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

the rights to the adaptation of the British series ''

Man About the House ''Man About the House'' is a British sitcom created by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. It starred Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, Sally Thomsett, Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (actor), Brian Murphy. Six series were broadcast on ITV (TV netw ...

'' (1973–1976), which was produced in the U.S as the title of ''

''. Starring

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American comedian and actor. He was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason Ritter, Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is best known for ...

, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt, the sitcom became a hit, produced between 1976 and 1984. The series spawned two

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

s: ''

The Ropers ''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 15, 1980. It is a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''Geo ...

'' and ''

Three's a Crowd ''Three's a Crowd'' (also known as ''Three's Company, Too'' in the ''Three's Company'' syndication package) is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off sequel and continuation of '' Three's Company'' that aired on ABC from ...

''. This second was actually the continuation of the original production, which at the time had already been canceled. Trying to rescue the success of ''Three's Company'', Taffner bought the adaptation rights to the British series '' Keep It in the Family'' (1980-1983) and produced ''

''. In 1987, D.L. Taffner, Ltd. acquired the exclusive rights to the Thames Television game show ''Whose Baby?'' and would remake the show for an American audience. That year, D.L. Taffner partnered with Muir Sutherland and his Celtic Films company to link for programming, based on '' The Saint''. That year, Don Taffner had hired former Camelot Entertainment Sales employee Rick Levy to join the studio, in which he had served as president of sales and marketing. After a few failed attempts, Taffner co-produced the British sitcom '' As Time Goes By'' in partnership with Theatre of Comedy Entertainment, and starring

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

. The television series had 9 seasons, produced between 1992 and 2002, returning with specials in 2005.

References

External links

Donald L. Taffner
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

1930 births 2011 deaths International Emmy Founders Award winners American television producers {{US-tv-producer-stub