Producer of Classic TV, Richard Lewis, Has Died

Richard Lewis, who was responsible for producing several classics of television's Golden Age, has died at the age of 89. Richard Lewis was interviewed by the Archive by Karen Herman on March 8, 1999.

Link to Los Angeles Times obituary (scroll down on page).

His Archive interview is online at this link.

Interview Description:

Richard Lewis was interviewed for five hours in Somers, NY. Lewis discussed his early career as a director and later show creator in radio. He talked about his transition to television as a producer (which included Blind Date) and his role in the creation of the popular and long-running western series Wagon Train as well as his work on the acclaimed anthology series Alcoa Premiere. He also discussed producing several successful pilots for such series as Leave It To Beaver, Bachelor Father, and McHale's Navy. He talked about becoming the Vice President of MCA's Revue Television, which later became Universal Television. He detailed producing one of the first television movies, The Borgia Stick, and his becoming an independent producer of feature films shortly thereafter.

The World Needs More Ernest Borgnine!

Today the Archive interviewed film and television icon Ernest Borgnine at his home in Beverly Hills. It was a fun trip down merriment lane, as Ernie reminisced about his theatrical beginnings at the Barter Theater, to his Broadway turn in "Harvey", which led to bookings on early live dramatic series for Philco Television Playhouse (where he met director Delbert Mann), to eventually being cast as a lead in the Academy-Award-winning film "Marty" in 1955 (and made writer Paddy Chayefsky cry at the first reading!) He discussed working with Bob Aldrich and Sam Peckinpah, and entertained us with tales from his days on "McHale's Navy" with Tim Conway, Gavin MacLeod, and Joe Flynn. He joked how a girl scout group didn't know him from the 200 films he's been in, but when he said "Anyone ever hear of Spongebob Squarepants?" they howled with delight at the realization that they were in the presence of "Mermaid Man". At 91, Ernie kept us laughing with his anecdotes and amazed at his memory for the smallest details. He had much sage advice for actors of all ages, and he's beginning work on a new film in a few weeks, so there will be much more of Ernie to come. Stay tuned for postings about this archive interview going online!