Bruce Bilson, Emmy-Winning Director on ‘Get Smart’ and ‘The Odd Couple,’ Dies at 97

Bruce Bilson, who won an Emmy for directing “Get Smart” and directed hundreds of TV episodes, died on Jan. 16 in Los Angeles. He was 97.

Bilson was best known for directing the secret agent sitcom parody “Get Smart,” for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1968. Over the span of his decades-long career, Bilson directed over 400 episodes of television, including episodes of “The Odd Couple,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” “The Patty Duke Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “MASH,” “Hawaii 5-0,” “The Flash,” “Viper” and “Dinosaurs.”

Bilson graduated from UCLA in 1946, part of the institution’s first film school graduating class. After serving in the Air Force, Bilson became an assistant editor on Groucho Marx’s “You Bet Your Life,” and later an assistant director on “Wyatt Earp” and “The Andy Griffith Show.”

Bilson was born on May 19, 1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Hattie Bilson, a screen and magazine writer, and George Bilson, a producer at Warner Brothers and RKO.

Bilson married Mona Whiteman in 1955, with whom he had two children. In 1984, he marriedactress Renne Jarrett, who he was married to until his death.

He is survived by his wife, his children, Danny Bilson, Julie Bilson Ahlberg, and his stepson, Drew Stauffer (Liz), in addition to his grandchildren, Rachel, Hattie, and Rosemary Bilson, John Pierce (Courtney), Sidney and Suki Sekula, Bowie Stauffer, and great-grandchildren Briar Christensen and Everly Pierce.

A memorial service for Bilson will be held at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.

Donations in his name may be made to casala.org.