Burrows was born in Los Angeles and later moved with his family to New York, where he attended the High School of Music & Art. He graduated from Oberlin College and completed a graduate program at the Yale School of Drama. He worked for years as a stage manager with his father, a playwright and director, assisting on shows such as \u201cBreakfast at Tiffany\u2019s,\u201d starring Moore and Richard Chamberlain.<\/p>\n
He solidified his name in television with \u201cCheers,\u201d co-creating the lively Boston tavern \u201cwhere everybody knows your name\u201d with Glen and Les Charles. Over its 11 seasons on the air, Burrows directed 237 of its 275 episodes, emerging as a behind-the-scenes comedy legend.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou bring \u2018em in, you sit \u2018em down and they talk. That\u2019s all \u2018Cheers\u2019 was,\u201d Burrows told The Times. \u201cThe word is more important than the goofiness. It was all about the words \u2014 which is how I was trained, how my father was trained, how anybody who reads books is trained. It\u2019s the word.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father, Abe Burrows, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter and director who performed in radio comedies and co-wrote the books for the Broadway musicals \u201cGuys and Dolls\u201d and \u201cHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.\u201d The younger Burrows said growing up on radio comedies helped him hone his ear for humor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what\u2019s funny, and I probably know the best way to deliver the joke. Whether it\u2019s walking out of a room, facing that way, facing this way,\u201d Burrows told The Times<\/a> in 2010. \u201cI just have a sense of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Another skill he learned from his dad? Working on his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d run the scenes over and over,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cHe created this wonderful camaraderie, which I always try to do. I love to do ensemble shows because that\u2019s where you get the camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n Burrows, often considered a fatherly manager, tried to bridge the gap between actors and writers and notably took the stars of \u201cFriends\u201d on a trip to Las Vegas before directing 15 episodes of the blockbuster comedy. He also threw a party for the \u201cMike & Molly\u201d cast to build rapport because he believed when everyone liked each other, it showed on-screen.<\/p>\n Actors would know when a joke landed when they would hear Burrows giggle as the scene unfolded.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the guy that wants you to walk the comic plank for me,\u201d he said. \u201cTake it as far out as you want to take it and I\u2019ll bring it back. Sometimes I\u2019ll take it further. But trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n With his slate of hits \u2014 he\u2019s credited for directing several shows in NBC\u2019s primetime \u201cMust See TV\u201d lineup of the 1990s \u2014 Burrows amassed sizable wealth and, from an early age, was in constant demand by those seeking his magic touch for their show. However, he also saw his fair share of flops: Henry Winkler\u2019s \u201cCafe Americain\u201d with Valerie Bertinelli and a slew of promising pilots that never got off the ground. He also felt that ABC\u2019s \u201cThe Associates\u201d and \u201cThe Class\u201d on CBS were canceled too soon.<\/p>\n From 1998 to 2006, Burrows helmed every episode of \u201cWill & Grace,\u201d the Emmy-nominated sitcom about a woman and her gay best friend that aired on NBC for eight seasons during its original run. To Burrows, it was the funniest show he ever worked on. He was also behind the camera for the comedy\u2019s 2017 revival<\/a>, which brought the envelope-pushing antics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen<\/a> back for three more seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a fairy tale literally and figuratively,\u201d he said in a 2016 Hypable interview. \u201cIt was not of the real world in a strange kind of way. These were exaggerated characters. Although they were grounded with Will and Grace, there was this exaggeration that made the stuff you could do and get away with on that show so extraordinary.\u201d <\/p>\n He won his 11th Emmy Award serving as an executive producer on 2019\u2019s all-star re-staging of \u201cLive in Front of a Studio Audience: \u2018All in the Family\u2019 and \u2018Good Times.\u2019\u201d A year earlier, he was nominated for directing the \u201c\u2018All in the Family\u2019 and \u2018The Jeffersons\u2019\u201d TV special.<\/p>\n James Burrows behind the scenes.<\/p>\n (Chris Pizzello \/ Invision \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Burrows had a penchant for directing pilots because it meant \u201cyou\u2019re better than an episodic director\u201d and could create something new in the writer-driven medium of television. He was also drawn to \u201cthe more uptown, the more urbane, the more sophisticated\u201d comedies. He tried doing cinema once \u2014 1981\u2019s \u201cPartners\u201d with Ryan O\u2019Neal and John Hurt \u2014 and said the result confirmed his belief that he was built for television.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a cinematic guy. I\u2019m a theater guy. For what I do, I need a live audience,\u201d he told the Television Academy in 2016.<\/p>\n Among his favorite TV moments were the pilots for \u201cFrasier\u201d and \u201c3rd Rock From the Sun\u201d; the long-awaited kiss between Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) and Woody\u2019s (Woody Harrelson) wedding on \u201cCheers\u201d; the Rev. Jim (Christopher Lloyd) taking his driving test in \u201cTaxi\u201d; Ross (David Schwimmer) being attacked by a cat in \u201cFriends\u201d; and Will, Grace, Jack and Karen getting in the shower together on \u201cWill & Grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Late into his career, Burrows continued to work in the multi-camera sitcom format, which is shot in a studio, usually before a live audience. In 2013, he was honored by the Television Academy, and, in 2016, he celebrated directing his 1,000th episode of television programming, crossing the milestone with an episode of \u201cCrowded.\u201d NBC marked the feat with \u201cMust See TV: An All-Star Tribute\u201d special. According to critics, the show \u2014 billed by several outlets as the elusive \u201cFriends\u201d reunion and coming off as a living eulogy to Burrows \u2014 fell short and did not do the legendary director justice.<\/p>\n He was nominated for dozens of Emmy Awards and Directors Guild of America Awards over his long career.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Guild has lost a legend,\u201d Directors Guild of America President Christopher Nolan said in a statement Friday. \u201cWith more than 40 years directing more than 1,000 episodes of the most critically acclaimed and audience-beloved sitcoms of all time, James Burrows was the modern master of the sophisticated comedy and a beloved member of the DGA.\u201d <\/p>\n He is survived by his second wife, hair stylist Debbie Easton; four daughters; and seven grandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Burrows, the 11-time Emmy-winning director who co-created \u201cCheers\u201d and helped turn such long-running sitcoms as \u201cTaxi,\u201d \u201cFriends,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[149304,149302,149303,25651,149305,4566,1431,1576,18027,27157,1520,48,52,51,47,50,49,1860,4509,1791,21654],"class_list":["post-368155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-beloved-director","tag-burrow","tag-burrows","tag-cheer","tag-comedy-director","tag-episode","tag-family","tag-friend","tag-good-way","tag-grace","tag-interview","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-show","tag-television","tag-times","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781939963_293_.jpeg\")
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