Director Richard L. Bare 1913-2015

[Zoneboy]

Link

Richard L. Bare, a noted television director who helmed nearly all of “Green Acres” as well as the memorable “Twilight Zone” episode “To Serve Man,” died last week at 101, according to his family.

A 42-year resident of Newport Beach, Bare could boast of a career that spanned seven decades. He worked with Charlie Chaplin, butted heads with Eva Gabor, discovered James Garner and in the late 2000s was still writing and pitching scripts.

Born in Turlock in 1913, Bare grew up in Modesto, where his father was a successful grape farmer. Bare’s fascination with film began early, and as a teenager his father bought him a 35mm movie camera. Bare used it to make a short film with a couple of high school buddies – one of them the father of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas.

Bare left Central California in the 1930s for Los Angeles and the nascent USC film school, where he won an award for outstanding short subject in 1934. Unable to break into Hollywood during the Depression, Bare moved to Carmel to run an arthouse theater, where he met and befriended Chaplin.

During World War War II, Bare enlisted and became a captain in the Army Air Forces film unit.

After the war he returned to USC to teach, where he wrote and directed a short subject, “So You Want to Quit Smoking,” which he sold to Warner Bros. Its success led to a series of 63 “So You Want to ...” comedy shorts starring George O’Hanlon as the hapless Joe McDoakes. McDoakes was always shown in the opening credits standing behind a giant 8 ball. Three of the films were nominated for an Oscar for short subjects.

But television was where Bare would find his greatest success. He directed Westerns, the pilot to “77 Sunset Strip,” and episodes of “Twilight Zone” and other shows before spending a year doing “Petticoat Junction.” That assignment led to “Green Acres,” where he spent six years.

Bare said that his initial experience with the show’s leading lady, Eva Gabor, was rough.

In a 2005 Register article, he shared an anecdote with reporter Peter Larsen:

“‘Vis mahn, he iss limiting me! He iss keeping me in a box!’” Bare said, quoting Gabor and mimicking her Hungarian accent. “‘It's either him or me!’

Executiver producer “Jay Sommers looked her in the eyes and said, ‘Well it's not going to be him!’”

Bare also wrote two books, a memoir, “Confessions of a Hollywood Director” and a textbook, “The Film Director: A Practical Guide to Motion Picture and Television Techniques.”

He was described by family members as highly creative and ambitious, always working on a script or a book or a business deal involving TV or films.

Bare also loved the sea and was an incurable sailor. He always had a boat and maintained a mooring in Avalon for frequent sails to Catalina.

As his son recalled: “Dad was brilliant, and I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice my entire life, except to shout, ‘Action!’”

[Marvo301]

Richard L. Bare. I love that story about him and Eva Gabor and how the producer sided with him!