Bud Yorkin

In his four-hour interview, Bud Yorkin (1926-2015) talks about his early years and his education at Carnegie Tech, as well as his time as a television repairman. He describes getting into television in the technical department, and working his way to becoming a stage manager and eventually director of The Colgate Comedy Hour starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. He recounts his time working as a producer on The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show with writers Danny Arnold, Roland Kibbee (who Yorkin hired despite being blacklisted), and producing partner Norman Lear. Yorkin discusses what he considers his greatest career triumph, An Evening with Fred Astaire, which he wrote, produced, and directed, and for which he won several Emmy awards. He outlines his role in his and Norman Lear's Tandem Productions, which saw him developing the classic shows All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and Diff'rent Strokes. He concludes by speaking of striking out on his own with TOY Productions, which produced What's Happening!, Carter Country, and 13 Queens Boulevard in rapid succession. Morrie Gelman conducted the interview on December 2, 1997 in Beverly Hills, CA.