Lorimar Co-Founder and Producer Lee Rich has Passed Away

[Zoneboy]

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Lee Rich, the powerful TV mogul responsible for some of the medium’s most popular programming like The Waltons, Dallas, and Eight Is Enough, has died. He was 85. He helped found and became chairman of Lorimar in its heyday (where he was nominated for 5 Emmys and won Best Drama Series for The Waltons) and later took over MGM-UA. He started his media career at Benton & Bowles advertising agency where he packaged and sold such seminal sitcoms as The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Danny Thomas Show. In those early days of television, admen enjoyed amost total control over programming, and Rich largely served as an additional producer on shows. He left the agency as SVP in 1965 to form his own production company, Mirisch-Rich Productions which produced Rat Patrol and one of the first Garry Marshall/Jerry Belson shows, Hey, Landlord. Rich returned to advertising at the Leo Burnett Agency. But then he left again to form the indie Lorimar Productions (later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution) with Irwin Molasky and Merv Adelson. There Rich served as executive producer on the company’s successful series like The Waltons (CBS, 1972-81), Eight Is Enough (ABC, 1977-81), Dallas (CBS, 1978-91), and its spinoff Knots Landing (CBS, 1979-91). He also exec-produced numerous TV movies including The Homecoming, (his first of many projects with Waltons‘ creator Earl Hamner) and the Emmy-winning Sybil (NBC, 1976). Head of Lorimar until 1986, Rich left to join MGM/UA Communications as chairman/CEO. He resigned in 1988 to return to independent production and such fare as Passenger 57, Just Cause, and Gloria.

[Marvo301]

Lee Rich