Godspeed Television Director Bruce Bilson

Prolific television director Bruce Bilson, who directed episodes of The Patty Duke Show, Hogan's Heroes, Get Smart (for which he won an Emmy), and many more shows, died on January 16, 2026, at the age of 97.

Bruce Bilson was born on May 19, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York. Both of his parents were in the show business. His father was writer and producer George Bilson, who would everything from theatrical short subjects at RKO to the television version of Captain Midnight. His mother was screenwriter Hattie Bilson, who would write multiple Pal the Dog shorts. Show business apparently ran the Bilsons' blood. Bruce Bilson's son is writer and director Danny Bilson. Danny Bilson's daughter, and hence Bruce Bilson's granddaughter, is Rachel Bilson.

Bruce Bilson was nearly four years old when his father George moved the family to Los Angeles in order to take a job in charge of the trailers department at Warner Bros. Bruce Bilson was 14 years old when he started working as an extra in various films. In 1946, he graduated from John Marshall High School and then attended UCLA where he studied theatre, camerawork, and film editing. He graduated in 1950 and enlisted in the United States Air Force,where he trained photo units. 

Bruce Bilson worked as an assistant editor on the game show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx, for two years before he was accepted into the Directors Guild. His first directorial job was directing episodes of the exercise It's Fun to Reduce. He was second assistant editor on the feature film Sincerely Yours (1955) and then second assistant director on the syndicated series The Liberace Show. It was through Desilu production head Argyle Nelson that Bruce Bilson began working at Desilu. In the mid to late Fifties, he served as an assistant director on episodes of Science Fiction Theatre and The Texan, as well as several episodes of the shows The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and U.S. Marshal. He served as first assistant director on 58 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. He served as an assistant director on the feature film Too Soon to Love (1960). 

In the Sixties, he worked as an assistant director on several episodes of Route 66 and two episodes of The Lawbreakers. He also worked an assistant director on the movies Teenage Millionaire (1961), Wild Harvest (1962), and One Potato, Two Potato (1964). His first credit as a director was on an episode of the short-lived sitcom Karen in 1964.   In the Sixties, Bruce Bilson directed several episodes of The Patty Duke Show; Please Don't Eat the Daisies; Get Smart; Hogan's Heroes; The Doris Day Show; and Love, American Style.  He also directed episodes oft the shows The Baileys of Balboa, Gidget, Camp Runamuck, Run Buddy Run, That Girl, Bewitched, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, The Tim Conway Show, Bonanza, and Barefoot n the Park.

In the Seventies, Mr. Bilson directed seveal episodes of Love, American Style and Barney Miller. He also directed episodes of the shows The Doris Day Show,. The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Green Acres, Arnie, The Good Life, Nanny and the Professor, The Odd Couple, Alias Smith and Jones, Samford and Son, Temperatures Rising, M^A^S^H, The Paul Lynde Show, Jigsaw, The Partridge Family, Roll Out!, Chopper One, Diusty's Trail, The Brady Bunch,The Six Million Dollar Man, Sierra, Emergency!, When Things Were Rotten, Matt Helm, Barbary Coast, S.W.A.T., Spencer's Pilots, Alice, Hawaii Five-O Wonder Woman, Hunter, The Feather and Father Gang, Tabitha, Quark, Delta House, Turnabout, The Bad News Bears, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Skag, B.J. and the Bear, and The Wonderful World of Disney. He also directed the TV movies The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped, Dead Man on the Run, The New Daughters of Joshua Cable, Duffy, The Banana Company, Pleasure Cove, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, The Halloween That Almost Wasn't,\ and The Ghosts of Buxley Hall. He directed the movie The North Avenue Irregulars (1979).

In the Eighties, Bruce Bilson directed episodes of the shows Harper Valley P.T.A., Aloha Paradise, Simon & Simon, House Calls, The Powers of Matthew Star, Private Benjamin, Knight Rider, Bring 'Em Back Alive, The Renegades, Too Close for Comfort, Just Our Luck, Glitter, Finder of Lost Loves, Half Nelson, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Twilight Zone, Teh Fall Guy, Dallas, The Love Boat, Life with Lucy, The Colbys, Sledge Hammer!, Hotel, Spenser for Hire, Dynasty, The Munsters Today, The Nutt House, The Bradys, They Came from Outer Space, Hull High, and The Flash. He directed the TV movie Gidget's Summer Reunion. He directed the feature film Chattanooga Choo Choo.

In the Nineites, Bruce Bilson directed episodes of The Flash, P.S. I Luv U, Human Target, Almost Home. Dinosaurs, Touched by an Angel, One West Waikiki, Love Boat: The Next Wave Pensacola: Wings of Gold; and Viper.

Bruce Bilson was also an associate producer on two episodes of the short-lived sitcom The Bailey of Balboa and episode of The Tim Conway Show. 

Bruce Bkson was certainly prolific and he directed many episodes of some of my favourite shows, including Get Smart, Barney Miller, The Flash, and Dinosaurs. He was particularly talented when it came to directing sitcoms, with good timing and an emphasis on the characters. It is little wonder he was in demand on the many shows he directed.