On Sunday, November 1, the Special Projects Committee presented a tribute to Director John Rich in at the Guild's Los Angeles headquarters. The event was a salute to Rich's career and his DGA service, both of which reach from the early days of television in the 1950s to the present.
The program featured testimonials from Rich's colleagues and friends including DGA President Taylor Hackford who sent Rich a videotaped message; and speakers including DGA Secretary-Treasurer Gil Cates and DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth who have worked with him for years on Guild matters; legendary producer Norman Lear and actor/Director Rob Reiner who worked with Rich on the classic series All in the Family; actor Rose Marie whom he directed on the iconic series The Dick Van Dyke Show; and Director Lee Shallat Chemel whom Rich mentored.
"It's hard to state in a few words what John has meant to the Guild," said Cates. "His dedication; his leadership; his commitment both to his craft and his Guild; and perhaps most important of all, his understanding that for the Guild to be truly strong, it had to be representative of all its members and it had to have the support of its most successful members. John is knit into the very fabric of this organization, and I think it's safe to say that without John, we might not have become the organization that we are today."
Following the testimonials, the audience was treated to screenings of iconic Rich-directed episodes from both The Dick Van Dyke Show and All in the Family.
A member of the Guild since 1953 when it was known as the Screen Directors Guild, Rich was instrumental in the 1960 merger of the SDG and the Radio and Television Directors Guild that formed today's DGA. His service includes the posts of DGA Secretary-Treasurer and First Vice President from 1956 to 1957; co-chair of the 1996 Negotiating Committee and service on the Committee through five additional negotiations, as well as more than half a century as a member of both the DGA's National Board and Western Directors Council. He is a founding member and trustee of the DGA-Producers Pension & Health Plans and has served as Chairman of its Board of Trustees for seven terms. Rich is also a longtime member of the Board of the DGA Foundation and currently serves as its chairman. In 1993, he received the Robert B. Aldrich Award for Extraordinary Service to the DGA and its membership, and was honored again in 2003 with the DGA Honorary Life Member Award.
Rich began directing in the 1950s on comedy series like I Married Joan and Our Miss Brooks. He also helmed seminal westerns like Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, and Bonanza. Rich directed 40 episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, for which he received an Emmy nomination in 1962 and won the award in 1963. He also directed the pilot and every episode of the first four seasons of the ground-breaking All in the Family, earning Emmy nominations in 1971 and 1973, the directing Emmy in 1972, and DGA Awards for Most Outstanding Television Director and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series in 1971. Rich directed episodes of nearly every popular television series over the next four decades, including The Twilight Zone; Gilligan's Island; Hogan's Heroes; The Brady Bunch; The Jeffersons; Barney Miller; Benson; Newhart; and Murphy Brown. He also helmed feature films such as the Elvis Presley vehicle Roustabout; and the Jerry Lewis/Tony Curtis comedy Boeing-Boeing. His experiences in the entertainment industry are documented in his memoir, Warm Up the Snake.