Rachel Bilson‘s grandfather — prolific Hollywood director Bruce Bilson — has died at age 97.
Bruce’s daughter, producer Julie Bilson Ahlberg, confirmed on Wednesday, January 21, that he died peacefully at his home in Los Angeles earlier this month. The director was a member of a four-generation Hollywood family and is survived by his wife, actress Renne Jarrett.
Bruce’s career spanned several decades when he got his start working for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s Desilu production company. He directed episodes of half-hour comedies before scoring his own Alias Smith and Jones in 1972.
He went on to direct episodes of The Patty Duke Show, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, The Doris Day Show, The Odd Couple, Love, American Style, B.J. and the Bear, Barney Miller, The Fall Guy, Hotel, Dinosaurs, The Sentinel and Viper.
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Bruce’s greatest works include The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart and Hogan’s Heroes. He previously won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for his work on Get Smart.
Bruce reflected on the work that came with directing when he discussed creating an onset family.
“They don’t know who you are, you’re coming into their nest, their home,” he explained in a 2008 interview for the TV Academy Foundation website. [They tell you], ‘Don’t mess with it, we’ve got it working good.’ So you had to prove yourself every time you went to a new show.”
He continued: “When I was starting out, I thought my camera work was awful, and I tried to make it more interesting. As I got older and more experienced, I learned to tell the story with the actors first, cameras second.”
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Off screen, Bruce was married to Mona Whiteman from 1955 until 1976. He then found love with Jarrett, whom he exchanged vows with in 1984. In addition to his granddaughter Rachel, 44, Bruce’s son Danny Bilson is a screenwriter and his brother, Malcolm, is a concert pianist. His other grandchildren include Hattie, Rosemary, John, Sidney, Suki and Bowie — and great-grandchildren Briar and Everly. (Rachel shares Briar, 11, with Hayden Christensen.)
Following news of Bruce’s death, his family requested that donations be made in his name to CASA of Los Angeles. Rachel, for her part, shared an obituary about Bruce from The Hollywood Reporter, writing via Instagram on Wednesday, “This is really nice.”
