R.I.P. Richard L. Bare

[Reza]

Richard L. Bare, 101, TV and Film Director

by Daniel F. Slotnik New York Times 4/13/2015

Richard L. Bare, a director whose career began during World War II and who became a Hollywood mainstay in the early days of television, died on March 28 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 101.

His death was confirmed by his son, Jon. Mr. Bare directed virtually every episode of the long-running rural CBS sitcom "Green Acres," as well as several episodes of "The Twilight Zone." As he made clear in his comprehensive guide to his craft, "The Film Director," he prided himself on an unpretentious approach to filmmaking.

"Some of the other directors that weren't as lucky as I am were probably more bent on creating a great work of art, you know, and that to me never had any place on television," he said in an interview with the Archive of American Television in 2003.

That businesslike attitude helped Mr. Bare churn out numerous episodes of numerous shows from the 1950s to 1970s. He was most prolific in the western genre, working on series like "The Virginian," "Tombstone Territory" and "Broken Arrow."

Mr. Bare recalled that in 1955 he was preparing to shoot the first episode of "Cheyenne," a western series starring Clint Walker, when he met a young actor named James Bumgarner in a Hollywood bar. Mr. Bare, impressed with Mr. Bumgarner's stature, called him in to read for a bit part on the show, and Warner Bros. executives were so impressed that they offered him a contract (provided he shorten his name). Mr. Garner went on to star on "Maverick" -- Mr. Bare directed him in several episodes -- and, later, "The Rockford Files."

Mr. Bare began directing "Green Acres," which starred Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a sophisticated Manhattan couple who move to a farm, in 1965. He said in 2003 that he took over for Ralph Levy, who was credited as director of the first two episodes, because Mr. Levy was using "strange camera angles" and trying to coax "magnificent performances" from Mr. Albert and Ms. Gabor instead of completing the show.

"Making 'Green Acres' art!" he scoffed. "Can you imagine 'Green Acres' being art?"

Art or not, the show became a popular addition to other country-themed CBS shows like "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Petticoat Junction," of which "Green Acres" was a spinoff. Mr. Bare directed 166 episodes before the show was canceled in 1971.

Later that year Mr. Bare published "The Film Director," which demystified the technical aspects of filmmaking and offered advice on how to manage actors.

"Interestingly written as a clear and well-illustrated handbook for the beginner who is interested in eventually becoming a professional film director, the book not only describes all of the basic techniques the student will have to master, it also takes him behind the scenes into the world of the director," Bernard Gladstone wrote in a review in The New York Times.

An updated edition, with a foreword by Mr. Garner, was released in 2000.

Richard Leland Bare was born in Turlock, Calif., on Aug. 12, 1913, to a family that owned vineyards. He grew up interested in photography and shot a short western as a student at Modesto High School.

He studied architecture and film at the University of Southern California and in 1932 made "The Oval Portrait," an adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe story that is considered the university's first student film. Shot for $400, it won the Paul Muni Award, a college film competition sponsored by Warner Bros.

Mr. Bare's first professional work was a comedy short that he wrote and directed called "So You Want to Give Up Smoking." The film starred George O'Hanlon as a bumbling Everyman named Joe McDoakes who was trying to kick the habit.

Warner Bros. bought the short for $2,500 and released it in theaters in 1942. It was so popular -- and so cheap to produce -- that the studio asked Mr. Bare to make more. He completed one more, "So You Think You Need Glasses," before spending several years in the Army Air Forces' motion picture unit during World War II.

After the war Warner Bros. offered Mr. Bare a 10-year contract to keep writing and directing 10-minute McDoakes shorts, which placed the hard-luck Joe in a variety of comic situations. He directed and produced more than 60 of the films, and wrote many of them as well.

After that series ended in the mid-1950s, Mr. Bare mainly worked in television. In 1959 he won a Directors Guild of America award for the "77 Sunset Strip" episode "All Our Yesterdays." Among the most memorable of his seven "Twilight Zone" episodes was "To Serve Man," about a linguistic misunderstanding between aliens and humanity, widely regarded as one of the show's best. Over the years he also directed some features, including the western "Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend" (1957) and, with William Rowland, the gang thriller "This Rebel Breed" (1960). His last film was the 1973 thriller "Wicked, Wicked," which he wrote and directed.

He stopped directing in the mid-1970s. In recent years he had been developing a Broadway version of "Green Acres."

Mr. Bare was married five times. His marriages to Virginia Carpenter and the actresses Phyllis Coates, Julie Van Zandt and Jeanne Evans ended in divorce. He was married to the former Gloria Beutel until her death in 2012. Survivors include his son.

While shooting "Green Acres," Mr. Bare had to manage not just his two sometimes temperamental stars but also a prominent member of the supporting cast: a pig named Arnold.

"He was a little bit troublesome," Mr. Bare said. "He's what I called a 'Method pig.' "

By his account, Mr. Bare rose to the challenge.

"For a long time I was the best pig director in Hollywood," he once said. "There was nobody that could direct a pig like I could."