OFTA TV Behind the Scenes Hall of Fame

1. Dick Clark

Dick Clark was born and raised in Mount Vernon, New York on November 30, 1929, to Julia Fuller (Barnard) and Richard Augustus Clark. He had one older brother, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. At the age of 16, Clark got his first job in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station in Utica, New ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

2. Gene Roddenberry

Writer | Star Trek

While in junior high school, he became interested in science fiction, and years later while reading a copy of 'Astounding Stories' when he was working as an airline pilot, he decided to give it up and become a writer. He moved West and joined the Los Angeles police force to gain experience that ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

3. Aaron Spelling

Producer | Charlie's Angels

Aaron Spelling graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before that, he attended Forest Avenue High. He started as a writer and sold his first script to Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955). He wrote for various television shows, ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

4. James L. Brooks

Writer | Broadcast News

James L. Brooks was born on May 9, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Broadcast News (1987), As Good as It Gets (1997) and Terms of Endearment (1983). He was previously married to Holly Holmberg Brooks and Marianne Catherine Morrissey.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

5. William Hanna

Producer | ABC Afterschool Specials

William Hanna was an animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner Joseph Barbera.

Hanna was born in an Irish-American family, son of William John Hanna (1873-1949) and his wife Avice Joyce Denby. He was born in ...

Best animator in the history of television forever!

6. Joseph Barbera

Producer | ABC Afterschool Specials

Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator, film director, and television producer. He was the co-founder of the company Hanna-Barbera, with his longtime partner William Hanna.

Barbera was born in an Italian-American family. His parents were barbershop-owner Vincent Barbera (1889-1965) and ...

Best animator in the history of television forever!

7. Mike Post

Composer | NYPD Blue

Mike Post - musician, composer, arranger and producer - has long been considered the most successful composer in television history. His career in television started in 1970. Over the years, he's written the music for seven thousand hours of TV including: Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

8. Mark Snow

Composer | The X Files

Mark Snow became a good friend with Michael Kamen while they were studying music at New York's Art and Music High School. After graduation, they became roommates at Juilliard (an elite music school). After studying at Juilliard, he became very fond of pop music. He, Michael Kamen and 3 others ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

9. John Barry

Soundtrack | Out of Africa

John Barry was born in York, England in 1933, and was the youngest of three children. His father, Jack, owned several local cinemas and by the age of fourteen, Barry was capable of running the projection box on his own - in particular, The Rialto in York. As he was brought up in a cinematic ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

10. Bill Conti

Soundtrack | Rocky

Bill Conti was born on April 13, 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Rocky (1976), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). He is married to Shelby Cox. They have two children.

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

11. Merv Griffin

Producer | Jeopardy!

Merv Griffin was a singer and band leader, movie actor, television personality and media mogul who in his time hosting The Merv Griffin Show (1962) was second in fame and influence as a talk show host only to Johnny Carson. Griffin was best known for creating the two most popular game shows in ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

12. Norman Lear

Producer | All in the Family

Norman Lear enjoyed a long career in television and film, political and social activism, and philanthropy.

Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear flew 52 combat missions over Europe in World War II before beginning his television career. His classic shows of the 1970s and '80s - All in the ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

13. James Burrows

Director | Cheers

James Burrows was born on December 30, 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Cheers (1982), Will & Grace (1998) and Taxi (1978). He has been married to Debbie Easton since 1997. He was previously married to Linda Solomon.

Best director in the history of television forever!

14. Alexander Courage

Music_department | Star Trek

Alexander Courage was born on December 10, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Star Trek (1966), Jurassic Park (1993) and Star Trek: Generations (1994). He was married to Shirley Pumpelly. He died on May 15, 2008 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

15. David Shire

Music_department | Zodiac

David Shire was born on July 3, 1937 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He is a composer and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), Short Circuit (1986) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). He has been married to Didi Conn since February 11, 1984. They have one child. He was previously married to Talia...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

16. Paul Junger Witt

Producer | Dead Poets Society

Paul Junger Witt was born on March 20, 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Dead Poets Society (1989), The Golden Girls (1985) and Three Kings (1999). He was married to Susan Harris and Ann Elizabeth McLaughlin. He died on April 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

17. Desi Arnaz

Producer | I Love Lucy

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917. His father was the mayor of Santiago. The 1933 revolution led by Fulgencio Batista had landed his father in jail and stripped the family of its wealth, property and power. His father was released because of the ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

18. Steven Bochco

Writer | Hill Street Blues

Attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) as a playwriting major. Barbara Bosson (his second wife), Michael Tucker, Bruce Weitz and Charles Haid were classmates; he and Tucker drove cross-country to Hollywood for full-time jobs at Universal, where Bochco would remain for 12 years.

In ...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

19. Marshall Herskovitz

Producer | Thirtysomething

Marshall Herskovitz is a writer, producer, and director in Los Angeles who has won many awards for his work in television and film. Born in Philadelphia, he attended Brandeis University, then moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where he attended the American Film Institute and met his longtime creative ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

20. Rod Serling

Writer | The Twilight Zone

A former boxer, paratrooper and general all-around angry young man, Rod Serling was one of the radical new voices that made the "Golden Age" of television. Long before The Twilight Zone (1959), he was known for writing such high-quality scripts as "Patterns" and "Requiem for a Heavyweight," both ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

21. Tom Fontana

Writer | St. Elsewhere

Tom Fontana was born on September 12, 1951 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He is an Emmy Award winning writer and producer, known for Copper (2012), Borgia (2011), Oz (1997), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and St. Elsewhere (1982). He was twice married to Sagan Lewis, before her death in 2016.

Best writer in the history of television forever!

22. Jim Henson

Soundtrack | The Muppet Show

Jim Henson never thought that he would make a name of himself in puppetry; it was merely a way of getting himself on television. The vehicle that achieved it was Sam and Friends (1955), a late-night puppet show that was on after the 11:00 news in Washington DC. It proved to be very popular and ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

23. Carl Reiner

Writer | The Dick Van Dyke Show

Carl Reiner is a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his album "The 2,000 Year Old Man", based on his ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

24. Donald P. Bellisario

Writer | Quantum Leap

Donald P. Bellisario was born in North Charleroi in Pennsylvania. His father ran the tavern, where he grew up listening to the war stories of vets returning from WWII. He had a fifteen-year career in advertising before moving to Hollywood. He broke into television as the story editor for Black ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

25. David Chase

Producer | The Sopranos

Born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in New Jersey, David Chase (born David DeCesare) dreamed of being a star drummer in a rock band! He spent many years playing drums and bass trying to be part of a successful rock band in the 1960s East Coast music scene. He also loved movies, such as The ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

26. Walt Disney

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

27. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

28. David Milch

Writer | Hill Street Blues

David Milch was born on March 23, 1945 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Hill Street Blues (1981), NYPD Blue (1993) and Brooklyn South (1997). He has been married to Rita Stern since 1982. They have three children.

Best writer in the history of television forever!

29. John Frankenheimer

Director | The Manchurian Candidate

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...

Best director in the history of television forever!

30. Garry Marshall

Actor | A League of Their Own

Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 - July 19, 2016) was an American actor and filmmaker. He started his career in the 1960s writing for The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple for television in 1970. He gained fame for creating Happy ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

31. Lorne Michaels

Producer | Saturday Night Live

Lorne Michaels was born on November 17, 1944 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a producer and writer, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), 30 Rock (2006) and The Kids in the Hall (1988). He has been married to Alice Barry since 1991. They have three children. He was previously married to Susan ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

32. Richard Levinson

Writer | Columbo

Richard Levinson was born on August 7, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Rosanna Huffman. He died on March 12, 1987 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

33. William Link

Writer | Columbo

William Link was born on December 15, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Columbo (1971), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Rehearsal for Murder (1982). He was married to Margery Nelson. He died on December 27, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

34. Sherwood Schwartz

Writer | Gilligan's Island

Sherwood Schwartz was born on November 14, 1916 in Passaic, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Gilligan's Island (1964), The Red Skelton Hour (1951) and The Running Man (1987). He was married to Mildred Schwartz. He died on July 12, 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

35. Michael Westmore

Make_up_department | Star Trek: First Contact

Michael George Westmore is a scion of the Westmores of Hollywood, the most illustrious family of make-up artists in the business. The dynasty (of which Michael is the 13th to pursue this line of work) began with his grandfather George Westmore in 1917, later to become head of MGM's make-up ...

Best make-up artist in the history of television forever!

36. Ken Burns

Producer | The Central Park Five

Celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, ...

Best documentarian in the history of television forever!

37. Michael Okuda

Art_department | Star Trek: Generations

Michael Okuda is known for Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) and Star Trek: First Contact (1996). He is married to Denise Okuda.

Best scenic designer in the history of television forever!

38. Denise Okuda

Art_department | Star Trek: Generations

Denise Okuda is known for Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and For All Mankind (2019). She is married to Michael Okuda.

Best scenic designer in the history of television forever!

39. Brandon Tartikoff

Writer | Beggars and Choosers

Brandon Tartikoff was a graduate of Yale University, and started his career out at WLS-TV in Chicago. He switched jobs to ABC in New York in the mid-1970s, and moved to NBC in 1977 where he became a programming executive hired by Dick Ebersol. Tartikoff took over programming duties from Fred ...

Best executive in the history of television forever!

40. Edward R. Murrow

Around the World in Eighty Days

Pioneering radio and TV reporter who was the dominant figure in American broadcast journalism during its early years. His dramatic, in-person coverage of the Anschluss (German union with Austria), the 1939 German-Soviet invasion of Poland, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, brought him widespread...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

41. Ed Sullivan

Actor | Bye Bye Birdie

The beloved Impresario of TV variety from 1948 to 1971, Ed Sullivan originally made his name as a newspaper sportswriter, radio broadcaster and theater columnist for the New York Daily News. His column focused primarily on Broadway shows and juicy items about its stars. On the new medium of TV, ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

42. Vladimir K. Zworykin

Self | New York, New York

Vladimir K. Zworykin was born on July 17, 1888 in Russia. He was married to Katherine Polevitsky and Tatiana Vasilieff. He died on July 29, 1982 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

Best inventor in the history of television forever!

43. Larry Gelbart

Writer | Tootsie

The gift of provoking laughter came early to Larry Gelbart and has never deserted him. His distinguished career as a writer of comedy reads like a history of the art over the last 40 years. His writing credits date back to the Golden Age of radio, thanks in part to his father. The elder Gelbart was...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

44. David Sarnoff

Actor | Susan and God

David Sarnoff was one of the giants of 20th Century mass media as the head of Radio Corp. of America (RCA) and the National Broadcasting System (MBC). Sarnoff, who was of Jewish descent, was born on February 27, 1891 in Belarus in the old Russian Empire and emigrated with his family to the United ...

Best pioneer in the history of television forever!

45. David L. Wolper

Producer | L.A. Confidential

David L. Wolper was born on January 11, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for L.A. Confidential (1997), Murder in the First (1995) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He was married to Gloria Hill, Dawn Richard and Toni Carroll. He died on ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

46. Sheldon Leonard

Producer | Make Room for Daddy

Sheldon Leonard was born in New York City's lower Manhattan, the son of Jewish parents. He studied acting at Syracuse University and, after graduating, landed a job on Wall Street. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, he found himself unemployed and resolved to become a professional actor on ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

47. Sidney Lumet

Director | 12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...

Best director in the history of television forever!

48. Dick Wolf

Producer | Law & Order

Dick Wolf was born on December 20, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Law & Order (1990), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001). He has been married to Noelle Lippman since June 17, 2006. They have two ...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

49. Leonard Bernstein

Soundtrack | New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts

Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

50. Matt Groening

Writer | The Simpsons

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Matt Groening did not particularly like school, which is what originally turned him towards drawing. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Los Angeles and started drawing a comic strip named "Life in Hell", which eventually became published in the newspaper where he worked. ...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

51. Aaron Sorkin

Writer | The West Wing

Aaron Sorkin grew up in Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City where he was very involved in his high school drama and theater club. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, Sorkin intended to pursue a career in acting. It took him only a short time to ...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

52. David E. Kelley

Writer | The Practice

David Kelley might be described as living the American Dream, 1990s' style: write a screenplay, move to Hollywood, make millions and marry a movie star. A former Boston lawyer, in the last decade, he switched careers to become a successful television producer whose shows are recognized for their ...

53. William Paley

Self | The 1st TV Academy Hall of Fame

William Paley was born on September 27, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was married to Babe Paley and Dorothy Jones Hart . He died on October 26, 1990 in New York City, New York, USA.

Best executive in the history of television forever!

54. Betty Thomas

Self | Howard Stern

Betty Thomas was born July 27, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating from Ohio University with a BA in fine arts. Initially sidetracked, Betty first taught school in Chicago but found herself restricted and needing more of an open forum for self-expression than a classroom. She found herself drawn...

Best director in the history of television forever!

55. Larry David

Actor | Whatever Works

Lawrence Gene David is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom Seinfeld, on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for the HBO series Curb Your ...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

56. Paul Dini

Writer | Batman Beyond

Paul Dini is an American animator and writer known for his contributions to DC Comics, including Batman: The Animated Series, Gotham Girls and fan favorite character Harley Quinn. He also worked on Batman: Arkham Asylum and it's sequel Batman: Arkham City as well as a 2003 animated pilot based on ...

Best animator in the history of television forever!

57. Mark Goodson

Writer | Family Feud

Mark Goodson was born on January 14, 1915 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Family Feud (1976), Tattletales (1974) and Password (1973). He was married to Suzanne Russell Waddell, Virginia McDavid and Bluma Neveleff. He died on December 18, 1992 in Los Angeles, ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

58. Barbara Hall

Writer | I'll Fly Away

Barbara Hall was born on July 17, 1961 in Chatham, Virginia, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for I'll Fly Away (1991), Joan of Arcadia (2003) and Homeland (2011).

Best producer in the history of television forever!

59. Angela Lansbury

Actress | The Manchurian Candidate

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

60. Jerry Weintraub

Producer | The Avengers

Jerry Weintraub was born on September 26, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for The Avengers (1998), The Firm (1993) and The Next Karate Kid (1994). He was married to Jane Morgan and Janice Ivy Greenberg. He died on July 6, 2015 in Santa Barbara, ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

61. Mel Brooks

Actor | Spaceballs

Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...

Best writer in the history of television!

62. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

63. Chuck Lorre

Writer | Two and a Half Men

For the past twenty years, award-winning creator, executive producer and writer Chuck Lorre has conquered the entertainment industry with hit shows like Grace Under Fire (1993), Dharma & Greg (1997), Roseanne (1988) and Cybill (1995) as well as the number 1 comedy on television and four year ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

64. Oprah Winfrey

Producer | The Oprah Winfrey Show

Oprah Gail Winfrey , often known simply as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

65. Edward Zwick

Producer | The Last Samurai

Zwick moves deftly between the roles of writer, director and producer. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the 1989 critically acclaimed Civil War drama, Glory. He received his second Golden Globe nomination as a director for Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award...

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

66. Lucille Ball

Actress | I Love Lucy

The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York, the daughter of Desiree Evelyn "DeDe" (Hunt) and Henry Durrell "Had" Ball. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

67. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

Writer | Designing Women

Linda Bloodworth-Thomason was born on April 15, 1947 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Designing Women (1986), Bridegroom (2013) and Evening Shade (1990). She has been married to Harry Thomason since July 23, 1983.

Best producer/writer in the history of television forever!

68. Marcy Carsey

Producer | The Cosby Show

Marcy Carsey was born on November 21, 1944 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, USA. She is a producer and executive, known for The Cosby Show (1984), Roseanne (1988) and Let's Go to Prison (2006). She was previously married to John Jay Carsey.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

69. Diane English

Writer | Murphy Brown

Diane English was born on May 18, 1948 in Buffalo, New York, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Murphy Brown (1988), The Women (2008) and Double Rush (1995). She was previously married to Joel Shukovsky.

Best writer in the history of television forever!

70. Mimi Leder

Producer | The Morning Show

Mimi Leder was born on January 26, 1952 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for The Morning Show (2019), On the Basis of Sex (2018) and Deep Impact (1998). She has been married to Gary Werntz since January 26, 1986. They have one child. She was previously married ...

Best director in the history of television forever!

71. Paddy Chayefsky

Writer | Marty

Author, producer, and composer who earned a Bachelor of Science degree from CCNY, then a Purple Heart during World War II while serving in the US Army. Joining ASCAP in 1955, his chief musical collaborators included George Bassman and Harry Warren. His popular-song compositions include "Marty" and ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

72. Fred W. Friendly

Producer | CBS Reports

Fred W. Friendly was born on October 30, 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and editor, known for CBS Reports (1959), General Electric Theater (1953) and Montgomery Speaks His Mind (1959). He was married to Ruth Weiss Mark and Dorothy Greene. He died on March 3, 1998 in New ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

73. Don Hewitt

Producer | 60 Minutes

Don Hewitt was born on December 14, 1922 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for 60 Minutes (1968), Who's Who (1977) and Douglas Edwards with the News (1948). He was married to Marilyn Berger, Frankie Hewitt and Mary Weaver. He died on August 19, 2009 in ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

74. Mike Judge

Writer | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America

Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.

In 1962, Judge was born in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador and the country's main port. His parents were expatriate Americans. His father was archaeologist William James Judge and his mother was ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

75. Mary Tyler Moore

Actress | Ordinary People

Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

76. Jeremy Podeswa

Director | Station Eleven

Jeremy Podeswa is an award winning feature film and television director who has been nominated four times for the Best Director Emmy, for HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones" (twice), and for the Tom Hanks/ Steven Spielberg produced "The Pacific". He has also been nominated four times for...

Best director in the history of television forever!

77. David Susskind

Producer | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

David Susskind was born on December 19, 1920 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Ages of Man (1966). He was married to Joyce Davidson and Phyllis Briskin. He died on February 22, 1987 in New...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

78. Alan Taylor

Director | Game of Thrones

Alan Taylor is an American film and television director from San Francisco known for directing episodes of HBO shows such as The Sopranos, Deadwood, Game of Thrones, and Sex in the City. He directed the feature films Thor: The Dark World, Palookaville, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Many Saints of ...

Best director in the history of television forever!

79. Grant Tinker

Producer | Going Places

Grant Tinker was born on January 11, 1926 in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. He was a producer, known for Going Places (1973), The Lily Tomlin Special (1975) and Great Television Moments: What We Watched (1993). He was married to Brooke Knapp, Mary Tyler Moore and Ruth Prince Byerly. He died on ...

Best executive in the history of television forever!

80. Ted Turner

Angels in the Outfield

Ted Turner was born on November 19, 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA as Robert Edward Turner III. He is the founder of CNN, Turner Broadcast System (TBS) and Turner Network Television (TNT). He was previously married to Jane Fonda, Jane Shirley Smith and Judy Nye. He started in the business as a ...

Best executive in the history of television forever!

81. J.J. Abrams

Producer | Lost

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990)....

Best producer/creator in the history of television forever!

82. Debbie Allen

Producer | Fame

Deborah Kaye Allen was born in Houston, Texas, to African-American parents, Vivian Elizabeth (Ayers), a poet and art director, and Andrew Arthur Allen, an orthodontist. As a child, Debbie, her older brother, Andrew (called Tex), and her older sister, actress Phylicia Rashad, lived in Mexico to ...

Best choreographer in the history of television forever!

83. Yvette Lee Bowser

Producer | Living Single

Yvette Lee Bowser was born on June 9, 1965 in the USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Living Single (1993), Unprisoned (2023) and Dear White People (2017). She is married to Kyle Bowser. They have two children.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

84. Stephen J. Cannell

Writer | The Rockford Files

Stephen J. Cannell was raised in Pasadena, California. His father ran an interior design firm. From an early age, Stephen suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia, which made it nearly impossible from him to do well in school, he either flunked or was held back many times. Even though one of the courses ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

85. David Crane

Writer | Friends

David Crane was born on August 13, 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Friends (1994), Dream On (1990) and Episodes (2011).

Best writer in the history of television forever!

86. Rebecca Eaton

Producer | Sherlock

Rebecca Eaton was born on November 7, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is a producer, known for Sherlock (2010), Downton Abbey (2010) and Little Dorrit (2008).

Best producer in the history of television forever!

87. Mark Mothersbaugh

Composer | Thor: Ragnarok

Graduate of Woodridge High School in Peninsula, Ohio.

Attended Kent State University (1970-73) in Kent, Ohio, to focus on attaining an art degree. While at Kent State Mothersbaugh met Jerry Casale and Bob Lewis, who ultimately joined him in forming the 1970-80s avant-garde band Devo.

Awarded an ...

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

88. Fred Silverman

Producer | Meatballs and Spaghetti

Fred Silverman was born in 1937, and quickly grew up into the television business. After starting out in the mail-room of ABC-TV in the late 1950s, he rose to director of program development at WGN-TV, Chicago in the early '60s. One day, he abandoned his car during a snowstorm and boarded a plane ...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

89. Beth Sullivan

Writer | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

Beth Sullivan is known for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), Ponderosa (2001) and The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990).

Best writer in the history of television forever!

90. Danny Thomas

Actor | Make Room for Daddy

Known primarily as a TV actor, he starred as a nightclub singer on the popular The Danny Thomas Show (1953).

He also served TV behind the cameras partnering with Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Spelling to create such shows as Dick Van Dyke's show, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), The Andy Griffith Show (...

Best producer in the history of television forever!

91. Graham Chapman

Writer | Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Graham Chapman was born on January 8, 1941 in Leicester, England while a German air raid was in progress. Graham's father was a chief police inspector and probably inspired the constables Graham often portrayed later in comedy sketches. Graham studied medicine in college and earned an M.D., but he ...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

92. Eric Idle

Actor | Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, playwright, director, and songwriter. co-creator of Monty Python on TV, stage, and five films, including The Life of Brian and The Holy Grail, which he later adapted for the stage with John Du Prez as Monty Python's Spamalot, winning the Tony...

Best writer in the history of television forever!

93. Chuck Jones

Actor | Gremlins

Starting as a cel washer, Chuck Jones worked his way up to animator and then director at the animation division of Warner Bros. He is famous for creating such beloved cartoon characters as Wile E. Coyote, Henery Hawk, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Ralph Wolf, Road Runner, Sam Sheepdog, Sniffles,...

Best animator in the history of television forever!

94. Michelle King

Writer | The Good Wife

Michelle King was born on May 11, 1962 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for The Good Wife (2009), Evil (2019) and The Good Fight (2017). She is married to Robert King.

Best producer in the history of television forever!

95. Christopher Lloyd

Producer | Modern Family

Christopher Lloyd was born on June 18, 1960 in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Modern Family (2009), Frasier (1993) and Flushed Away (2006). He was previously married to Arleen Sorkin.

Best writer in the history of television forever!

96. Gail Mancuso

Director | Modern Family

Noted TV series director Gail Mancuso grew up in suburban Cook County, Illinois. Mancuso began her career as an usher of the set of several television talk shows. Later, became a script supervisor for the Showtime Cable Network comedy "Brothers". In 1989, she began serving as associate director for...

Best director in the history of television forever!

97. Thomas Schlamme

Producer | The West Wing

Thomas Schlamme was born on May 22, 1950 in Houston, Texas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The West Wing (1999), Sports Night (1998) and Tracey Takes On... (1996). He has been married to Christine Lahti since September 4, 1983. They have three children.

Best director/producer in the history of television forever!

98. Timothy Van Patten

Director | Boardwalk Empire

Timothy Van Patten was born on June 10, 1959 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Boardwalk Empire (2010), The Sopranos (1999) and The Pacific (2010). He has been married to Wendy Susan Rossmeyer since May 23, 1996. They have three children.

Best director in the history of television forever!

99. W.G. Snuffy Walden

Composer | The West Wing

W.G. Snuffy Walden was born on February 13, 1950 in Louisiana, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The West Wing (1999).

Best music composer in the history of television forever!

100. Alan Ball

Producer | American Beauty

Alan Ball is an American writer, director, and producer who is known for writing the acclaimed film American Beauty and creating the HBO series True Blood starring Anna Paquin. He also wrote the films Towelhead and Uncle Frank. He also created Here and Now, Six Feet Under, and Banshee. He won ...

Best producer/writer/creator in the history of television forever!