James Burrows: 25 interesting facts about the director! (List)

1. James Burrows was born on December 30, 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA as James Edward Burrows.

2. He is a director and producer, known for Will & Grace (1998), Taxi (1978) and Mike & Molly (2010).

3. His nickname is Jimmy.

4. He is the son of playwright/director Abe Burrows, and cousin of Jonathan Burrows.

5. Graduated from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in 1962. Received a masters degree in theater from Yale University in 1965.

6. He and TV director George Schaefer are tied at 15 each for the most nominations ever received from the Directors Guild of America.

7. Even though he became very wealthy from his work in television, he once said in an interview that he continues to direct situation comedy episodes on a freelance basis because it is what he loves to do.

8. On several television series he’s worked on, the spouse of a main character is never actually seen by the audience. They are Norm Peterson’s wife Vera (Cheers (1982)), Niles Crane’s wife Maris (Frasier (1993)) and Karen Walker’s husband Stanley (Will & Grace (1998)), Phylis Lynstrom’s husband Lars (Mary Tyler Moore (1970)). Although not spouses, Carlton the Doorman on (Rhoda (1974)), and Louie De Palma’s mother on (Taxi (1978)) were never seen.

9. Has been nominated for an Emmy Award for directing a comedy episode 24 times in 26 years, one nomination every year since 1980, excluding 1997 and 2004. He has won (as director) 5 times.

10. Formed Charles Burrows Charles Productions with writer-producers Glen Charles and Les Charles in 1982 to produce Cheers (1982).

11. He is the older brother of Laurie Burrows Grad.

12. He has been married to Debbie Easton since 1997.

13. He was previously married to Linda Solomon.

14. He is brother-in-law of Peter Grad.

15. He is the uncle of Nicholas Grad and Carolyn Bernstein.

16. Has directed over 30 Pilots for TV.

17. Burrows was born to a Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, the son of Ruth (Levinson) and Abe Burrows, a well-known composer, director and writer.

18. When James was still a young child, his family moved to New York where James attended New York’s High School of Music & Arts.

19. Burrows is a graduate of Oberlin College and the graduate program of the Yale School of Drama.

20. After Yale, Burrows returned to California where he became employed as a dialogue coach on O.K. Crackerby!, a television show starring Burl Ives and created by Burrow’s father, Abe. Burrows then took a job as an assistant stage manager on the play Holly Golightly, an adaptation of the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The production was unsuccessful, but the job served as Burrows’ introduction to its star, Mary Tyler Moore. Early on Burrows also worked for the road company of “Cactus Flower” and the Broadway production of “Forty Carats.

21. Burrows continued working in theater as a stage manager and transitioned into directing plays. Burrows directed traveling plays and a production at a Jacksonville, Florida dinner theater.

22. While working in theater, Burrows wrote Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker seeking a job at their production company, MTM Enterprises. In 1974, Tinker hired Burrows as a director for MTM Enterprises where he directed episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Tinker asked director Jay Sandrich, known for his work directing The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls, to serve as a mentor to Burrows. Burrows’ style is best known for his comic timing, complex blocking for actors, and incorporating more sophisticated lighting in television studio shoots. He is also credited as being one of the first sitcom directors to increase the typical multi-camera television shoot from three to four cameras.

23. In 1998, Burrows directed a Chicago based production of the 1939 comedy “The Man Who Came to Dinner” starring John Mahoney.

24. Over the course of his career, Burrows has been nominated for fifteen Directors Guild of America awards, and for an Emmy Award every year between 1980 and 2005, excluding 1997.

25. Burrows has won ten Emmy Awards and four Directors Guild of America Awards. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences celebrated Burrow’s forty-year career by hosting a panel in his honor on October 7, 2013.