William O. Harbach
William Otto Harbach (October 12, 1919 – December 18, 2017) was an American television producer, director and author. He won four Emmy Awards [1] and a Peabody Award [2] Harbach also produced and directed special events, including eight ASCAP celebrations for renowned composers, lyricists and librettists. He was the son of American lyricist, librettist and ASCAP co-founder Otto Abels Harbach.
William O. Harbach
December 18, 2017 (aged 98)
American
Television Producer, Director, Author
Producer of the original The Tonight Show
The Hollywood Palace and other award-winning series and specials
Laurie "Dougie" Douglas (1948-1951)
Fay Caulkins Palmer (1954-1973)
Barbara Schmid Vought (1981-2016; her death)
After a brief stint managing the nightclub acts Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers, Harbach got an entry-level job in 1948 as editor at the NBC New York Studio. Three years later he was offered the position of producer for a new show, the "Knickerbocker Beer Show".[7] The show starred Steve Allen, who did not like the producer that had been assigned to the show. Harbach replaced him and the two became an award-winning team and followed their work on The Tonight Show with The Steve Allen Show, a variety series. During this time, he developed a partnership with Nick Vanoff, with whom he continued a personal and professional relationship and friendship until Vanoff's death in 1991.[8] Harbach and Vanoff produced the acclaimed variety show The Hollywood Palace from 1964 to 1970,[9] as well as multiple specials.
Harbach's other producing credits include:
Working with Vanoff, Harbach also served as co-executive producer for:
Harbach also served as co-producer with Vanoff on:
Post-career[edit]
He staged and directed the Mary Martin Tribute at the Schubert Theater. He produced and directed the first New York International Festival of the Arts (an ASCAP show) in 1988 and, in the following year, The 75th Anniversary of ASCAP in Los Angeles. That same year he produced An Evening with Alan Jay Lerner at Lincoln Center for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,[16] and produced and directed the Irving Berlin Tribute at the Music Box Theater on February 6, 1990.
On July 23, 2009, Harbach delivered a eulogy[17] for his friend of half a century, Walter Cronkite.
Harbach died in December 2017 at the age of 98 following a brief illness.[18]