John Rich
Best known as the Emmy Award-winning director of "All in the Family" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show," John Rich is an American writer, director and producer. He was born on July 6, 1925 in Rockaway Beach, New York and attended the University of Michigan with actress Ann B. Davis with whom he he later worked with on "The Brady Bunch." He was an Army Air Force navigator during World War II, returning to the University of Michigan after the war. He received a bachelor's degre and master's degree in English. As a senior, he had a part-time job as a DJ on a small local radio station.
In New York City, he worked on the NBC radio program "Wanted," before beginning his TV career in 1950 as a stage manager on NBC shows such as the "Kraft Theatre" in 1947 and "The Jack Carson Show" in 1954. He went on to direct episodes of "I Married Joan" with Jim Backus, "Our Miss Brooks," "Bat Masterson," "The Rifleman," "General Electric Theater," "The Twilight Zone," "Gilligan's Island," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Hogan's Heroes," "Gunsmoke," "Gomer Pyle," "The Brady Bunch," "That Girl," "When Things Were Rotten," "All in the Family","Barney Miller," "Benson" and "Dear John" among others. He also served as producer of the series "MacGyver" and it's resulting movies and as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [Directors Branch]. He was married three times; his second wife, Andrea L. Rich, was an Executive Vice Chancellor at UCLA for many years and also the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1995-2005.
He died on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. He had two sons, Anthony Joseph Rich, a television director, and Robert with his second wife, Andrea.
