Looking back on John Rich's long career and relentless dedication to the DGA — more than 50 years of service — it is easy to see why he's been selected as this year's recipient of the Guild's Honorary Life Member Award.
John Rich directed some of the most beloved television shows of all time such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and All in the Family. He also directed pilot episodes of favorites like The Jeffersons, Maude, Good Times, Barney Miller, Newhart, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, as well as the early television comedies such as The Ray Bolger Show, I Married Joan and Our Miss Brooks. And there's more: Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Plainsman, Bat Masterson, The Twilight Zone, Hogan's Heroes, Benson and Murphy Brown.
His feature film credits include Wives and Lovers, The New Interns, Roustabout, Boeing-Boeing, and Easy Come, Easy Go, as well as the first live telecast of the Academy Awards in 1955. Rich received Emmys for his direction of The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1963, and All in the Family in 1972 and 1973; Golden Globe Awards for All in the Family in 1972 and 1973; the NAACP Image Award in 1973; and the Christopher Award in 1974 for his direction of Henry Fonda's stage performance in the one-man play, Clarence Darrow.
With such an extraordinary list of directing credits it's tough to believe that Rich had time to do much of anything else. But when he joined an organization called the Screen Directors Guild in 1953, John Rich began a second vocation and made a career out of giving back.
"I had just gone into television film, having come from live, and I was astounded to find myself at a meeting with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Zinnemann, George Stevens, Frank Capra, John Ford ... it was an indescribable experience to be in a room with the pantheon of great directors."
Rich was, quite literally, the Guild's first voice for television directors. "At my first meeting, during a tallying of votes for a particular election, there happened to be a long silence. I had come from live radio and live television where the worst thing in the world is a silence. Naturally I'd fill any vacuum. So, I raised my hand and said, 'I'm a new member, and I'm very impressed to be in this company of great directors. But, I read in Variety that soon 50% of the work in Hollywood for actors, writers and directors will be in this new field of television. And out of all of the wonderful names we're voting on, I don't think any one of them has ever been in TV!"
Many eyebrows were raised by his youthful hubris that morning. Nonetheless, Rich was to receive a phone call the following day, informing him that he'd been appointed to the Board as an alternate member.
And the rest is (Guild) history.
John Rich brought foresight to the DGA, becoming a champion for television directors at a time when few had the remotest idea of what TV would become. Rich said that he lobbied hard for an important merger that would help shape the future of the Guild. "There was this small outfit in New York called the Radio and Television Directors Guild (RTDG). And there was a phenomenon occurring in our industry called tape. I knew it was a harbinger of things to come, and I knew it would behoove us to make the RTDG part of our Guild because they had contracts with the networks. Our collective bargaining contracts were only with the film studios. We couldn't talk directly to NBC, CBS or ABC but this other guild could. So I said, 'I think we ought to take them in and call it a merger.'"
According to Rich, that idea brought strong resistance. But he fought hard; arguing that without the merger there could evolve a deep rift in the directing profession. " 'We're going to have directors of film cameras and directors of video cameras,' I said. 'And I think we should not be anything but directors of people.' "
In 1960, the Screen Directors Guild merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild to form the Directors Guild of America.
Another vital contribution Rich made to the DGA was in the area of pension and health. "Under the pension plan we had when I joined, our directors were only getting credit for their shooting days. They were not getting credit for years of their work, and a lot of them were dying indigent. We needed a pension plan that could be meaningful to our directors. The plan that we ultimately agreed upon, devised by the brilliant Joe Youngerman, is precisely the plan that's in place today. That was certainly one of my delights — to have been one of the founding members of the pension plan." Rich has continued to serve as a trustee for the DGA-Producers Pension and Health Plans since its inception. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1992 and 1996.
Through the years, Rich has held a multitude of positions at the DGA, including alternate to the Guild's National Board of Directors, 1954; Western Directors Council Member, 1955 to present; National Board Member, 1955 to 1969 and 1971 to present; Secretary-Treasurer/First Vice President, 1956–1957; Negotiating Committee member through three Guild negotiations, 1956, 1958 and 1960; and Negotiating Committee Co-chairperson in 1996.
Rich received the Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service to the Guild and its membership in 1993 and the DGA Television Director of the Year Award for his work on All in the Family in 1971.
"The DGA has given more contributions to me than I have to it," says Rich. "I'm more indebted to the Guild and its membership for allowing me to serve, because not only have I learned an awful lot about what goes on, but I've had the privilege of working with some remarkable Board Members through the years."
Rich strongly encourages involvement in the Guild. "If you are a member, come on in. Sit in on a meeting and listen. You just might learn an awful lot about attitude, among other things. Attitude and what it means to be a director."
When asked whether he intends to continue his service work at the Directors Guild after this award, John Rich's eyes light up emphatically. "Are you kidding? Until I drop."
