Friends and colleagues of James Burrows are opening up after the death of the 85-year-old director and producer on Friday. Highly regarded as the most influential TV comedy director of all time, Burrows helped create the look and style of programs like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Friends, Fraiser, Will and Grace, and The Big Bang Theory.
From actors to fellow directors and networks, Hollywood is coming together to celebrate the man whose creative vision shaped generations of television. Burrows won 11 Emmys throughout his career and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2006.
Eric McCormack, who worked with Burrows on Will and Grace, posted on Instagram: “We lost a giant today, a mentor to me, and a dear friend. The 800 lb gorilla of television comedy for 50 years, he was beloved by everyone, and has left not a mark but a footprint. An incredible legacy.”
Christopher Nolan, president of the Directors Guild of America, said on behalf of his organization: “Our Guild has lost a legend. With 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. Famous for turning sitcoms like Cheers, Will and Grace, Taxi, and Frasier into high art, Jim set the bar in comedy direction with an incomparable influence on his fellow Directors over decades of precedent-setting television directing. … He was truly incomparable and will be profoundly missed.”
Tony Danza of Taxi fame wrote on X: “We have lost the greatest of all time. Jimmy Burrows. I know I wouldn’t be here without him. My thoughts are with Debbie and the kids.”
Cedric the Entertainer, who collaborated with the director on The Neighborhood, posted on Instagram: “Rest Easy. Jim Burrows, the guy standing between me and Tichina Arnold, is Television Great!! He put the Direct in TV. The amount of laughs and joy his vision has brought into our homes is unmeasurable … Cheers, Friends, Fraiser, Will and Grace, and The Neighborhood, to name only a few. Thank you for your service to entertainment and this thing we call life. Condolences to his loved ones, and may you rest in peace.”
Romantically Challenged star Alyssa Milano wrote on social media: “There are very few people in television history whose work has shaped the way we laugh, the way we tell stories, and the way we understand the sitcom form. James Burrows is one of them. To have had the opportunity to be directed by him on Romantically Challenged was an absolute gift.”
NBC, Burrows’ longtime network, said in a statement: “Jimmy Burrows was the man behind the curtain. He knew how to make us laugh, what buttons to push and was the absolute master of getting the most out of every joke. His loss to the television comedy world is immeasurable. Every time you have a smile on your face watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Cheers, Will and Grace, Friends, and countless others, think of Jimmy and know he made all our lives funnier.”
