William O. Harbach ’44, of Fairfield, Conn.

William O. Harbach ’44, of Fairfield, Conn.; Dec. 18, after a brief illness. He was a television producer, director, author, and the winner of four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. He spent one year at Brown before enlisting in the U.S. Coast Guard. After his military service, he was hired by MGM as a stock player and appeared in Good News, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Song of the Thin Man, and Killer McCoy. He lost his job in 1947 when MGM eliminated stock players to cut costs. He then moved to New York City, where he managed the nightclub act Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers. After landing an entry-level job as an editor at NBC’s New York studio, he was soon editing, directing, and producing such shows as Blind Date. Three years later he produced a local New York program called the Knickerbocker Beer Show, starring Steve Allen; it later became The Steve Allen Show and earned Harbach a 1958 Peabody Award. He produced The Tonight Show, which went nationwide and live from New York City in June 1953. Jimmy Fallon made him an honorary guest on his first show in 2014. Harbach partnered with Nick Vanoff to produce the variety show The Hollywood Palace from 1964 to 1970, as well as multiple specials. In 1966 he cast Raquel Welch as the “Billboard Girl” on The Hollywood Palace, and in 1973 won his first Emmy for The Julie Andrews Hour. Harbach produced and directed numerous TV shows and specials that starred such well-known celebrities as Bing Crosby, Milton Berle, Glenn Miller, Carol Burnett, Bob Hope, and John Wayne. He won a second Emmy for his work on Gypsy in My Soul, a 1976 special featuring Shirley MacLaine and Lucille Ball. He enjoyed playing croquet and was inducted into the U.S. Croquet Hall of Fame in 1983. An avid sailor, he was a member of several yacht clubs and enjoyed competing in yacht races and sailing with Walter Cronkite on annual summer trips. He is survived by two daughters; two stepdaughters, including Victoria Vought ’91; and six grandchildren.