Larry Auerbach

More than any other director, Larry Auerbach was synonymous with New York daytime drama, starting with Love of Life (1951), which he directed for 28 years. When the show ended in 1980, its final scene showed Mr. Auerbach walking from set to set, turning off the lights. The show's demise --at the time it was the second-oldest show on the air-- was reported by Walter Cronkite on that evening's news. Following "Love of Life," Mr. Auerbach went on to direct several other New York soap operas, including All My Children (1970), Another World (1964), As the World Turns (1956) and One Life to Live (1968) for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award. A collection of his early work is archived at The Paley Center for Media in New York. Larry Auerbach was born in the Bronx and raised in Mount Vernon, NY. He always considered himself a New York director, but his television career began in Chicago in the late 1940s during what is now called "The Golden Age" of television production. He was stage manager on Studs' Place (1949) with Studs Terkel and on Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1969). Following a brief stint on Zoo Parade (1950), a live program from the Chicago Zoo with Marlin Perkins, Mr. Auerbach went on to become the first director on Mr. Wizard (1951). Returning to New York in 1951, Mr. Auerbach launched Love of Life (1951) on CBS. Because soaps were a fertile training ground for young actors, many who went on to careers in Hollywood worked with Mr. Auerbach, including Christopher Reeve, Roy Scheider, Jessica Walter, Frances Sternhagen, Warren Beatty, Tige Andrews, Ray Wise, Bonnie Bedelia, and Peter Falk. Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. was an avid fan of Love of Life (1951) and made an appearance on the show. When Dustin Hoffman was filming the soap opera comedy Tootsie (1982), Mr. Auerbach was one of the people he sought out as an advisor. In addition to his work as a director, Mr. Auerbach was deeply involved with the Directors Guild of America, serving as its National Vice President as well as sitting on its National Board and the board of the union's pension and health plan. During his 50-plus years at the DGA, he was a forceful advocate for greater recognition of New York directors and daytime television. In 1991, he was awarded the DGA Robert Aldrich Award. In 2004 he was named a DGA Honorary Life Member, joining a small elite group that includes Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Frank Capra, Walt Disney, Louis B. Mayer, Jack L. Warner and Chuck Jones.