Gene Reynolds, Co-Creator of ‘MASH,’ Dies at 96
Variety
By Laura Haefner
February 4, 2020
Six-time Emmy winner Gene Reynolds, known for his writing,
directing and producing for the lauded socially conscious 1970s TV shows “MASH”
and “Lou Grant,” died Monday in Burbank, Calif. He was 96.
Starting in 1993, Reynolds served four years as president of
the Directors Guild of America, which confirmed his death.
Asked to produce a TV version of the 1970 antiwar black
comedy “MASH,” about a team of surgeons in the Korean War, Reynolds sought out
the creative like-mind of writer Larry Gelbart.
Together, they created a funny
yet socially astute series that was massively successful, running for 11 years
and garnering many awards, including a Peabody
in 1975 and Emmys for outstanding series (1974) and for an assortment of
individual writing, acting and directing accomplishments.
In addition to producing, Reynolds himself directed and
wrote numerous episodes for the series.
Directors Guild of America President Thomas Schlamme
and former National Executive Director Jay D. Roth said in a statement, “Gene’s
influence on the modern Directors Guild of America was significant and
lasting,” said Schlamme. “During his two terms as President, he dedicated
himself to making the Guild more inclusive – broadening the leadership base,
encouraging younger members to take leadership positions, strengthening ties
between feature directors, pushing the industry to do better on diversity and
working to modify DGA agreements so that filmmakers with low budgets could
benefit from DGA membership. Gene’s commitment to the Guild lasted long after
his presidency ended, regularly attending Board and Western Directors Council
meetings, and never hesitating to share his thoughts. He was passionate about
this Guild, spirited in his beliefs and dedicated until the end.”
“Gene was President when I became National Executive
Director,” said Roth. “He was absolutely committed to revitalizing and
modernizing the Guild and laying the groundwork for its growth into the future.
He cared deeply about diversity and growing the leadership base of the Guild,
and his passion for the DGA never wavered.”
Over the course of his career, Reynolds drew 24 Primetime
Emmy nominations, winning six times, including for outstanding series for
“MASH” and, twice, for “Lou Grant.” He won his first Primetime Emmy in 1970 as
a producer for “Room 222.”
He also won a Humanitas Prize for “Lou Grant” and DGA awards
for direction of a comedy series for “MASH” twice and for direction of a drama
series for “Lou Grant” once.
Reynolds was always drawn to the human aspects of
storytelling. Quoting Faulkner, he declared a preference for stories that
featured “the human heart in conflict with itself.” “One great judge of work:
Does it have an aftertaste? Does it leave you with something?” he once said.
Nowhere was this approach more apparent than in his work on
the acclaimed, innovative series “MASH” and “Lou Grant.”
On “MASH,” the line between acting and writing was fluid — a
dynamic created and encouraged by Reynolds. Alan Alda, who played “Hawkeye”
Pierce, the show’s conscience and editorial voice, noted that on “MASH,” “We
constantly scrambled over (the barrier between a show’s writers and actors)
from both sides.”
The result, Alda said, was the actors’ “owning it, in some
way,” creating “much more believable behavior.”
“MASH” used this flow of collaboration and improvisation to
create innovative episodes, including “The Interview,” which aired in 1976.
Shot in black and white, styled as an Edward R. Murrow documentary about Korea
and written by Gelbart, the episode incorporated scripted questions for the
characters’ “interviews,” as well as unscripted ones that forced the actors to
improvise in character.
The series remained in the top 10 for its entire run, and
its final episode was at the time the most-watched program in history, with
more than 50 million families tuning in.
Gelbart left after two seasons. Reynolds eventually became
exec producer, leaving himself in 1977. He continued to consult with the show.
After “MASH,” Reynolds teamed with James L. Brooks, along
with Alan Burns, to create “Lou Grant.” A spinoff of the “Mary Tyler Moore
Show,” “Lou Grant” reimagined the crusty character as a Los Angeles newspaper editor and explored the
behind-the-scenes drama of news coverage.
The show avoided formulas and easy endings, exploring social
issues of the day in ways that didn’t always tie up neatly at the end of an
episode. Reynolds wrote a significant number of episodes, in addition to
directing and exec producing.
The critically acclaimed “Lou Grant” won numerous awards,
including a Peabody in 1978 and the Emmy for drama series in 1979 and 1980. It
ran from 1977-82.
Born in Cleveland
as Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal, Reynolds began as a child actor, making his
bigscreen debut in a 1934 “Our Gang” short. As a kid, however, Reynolds aspired
to be a director, and he followed early roles in films such as “Love Finds Andy
Hardy” (1938) and “Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary” (1941) and TV series
including “The Lone Ranger,” “Dragnet” and “I Love Lucy” with work behind the
scenes.
Reynolds’ first significant non-acting work came in 1957 for
the TV series “Tales of Wells Fargo,” which he created with Brooks and Frank
Gruber. Over the series’ multiseason run, Reynolds wrote and directed several
episodes.
He had a solid run as a director on “My Three Sons” and
stints on “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Leave It to Beaver,” “The Andy Griffith
Show,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “Gidget,” “The Munsters” and “F Troop.”
His creative approach met its first match when he worked
with show creator Brooks as a producer and director for the TV series “Room
222,” which debuted in 1969. The show explored contemporary social issues from
the perspective of high school students, teachers and administrators,
addressing weighty issues such as racial tolerance and drugs, but in what would
become Reynolds’ hallmark, the approach to these themes was tempered by humor.
Reynolds described his later career as “freelance
directing.” He directed TV movies, including “In Defense of Kids” (1983),
starring Blythe Danner, as well episodes of TV series, including “Life Goes
On,” “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and “Touched by an
Angel.” His last directing effort was the 1999 telepic “How to Get There.”
In the 2000s, he appeared as himself in several
documentaries and video shorts, including “Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust” (2004).
In 1993 Reynolds received the DGA’s Robert B. Aldrich
Achievement Award for extraordinary service to the guild.
REYNOLDS, Gene (Eugene
Reynolds Blumenthal)
Born: 4/4/1923, Cleveland, Ohio,
U.S.A.
Died: 2/3/2020, Burbank, California,
U.S.A.
Gene Reynolds’
westerns – director, writer, actor:
The Californian – 1937 (Ramon as a child)
Thunder Trail – 1937 (Richard Ames at 14)
Of Human Hearts – 1938 (Jason Wilkins as a child)
Santa Fe Trail – 1940 (Jason
Brown)
The Big Cat – 1949 (Wid Hawks)
The Lone Ranger (TV) – 1950 (Jim Andrews)
Annie Oakley (TV) – 1955 (Steve Bailey)
Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
[director, writer]
Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1960 [director]
F Troop (TV) – 1966 [director]
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