James Burrows, legendary director of some of America’s most loved sitcoms, has died at age 85.
Best known as co‑creator of Cheers, Burrows directed more than 1,000 episodes of other TV comedy classics, including Friends, The Big Bang Theory and Will & Grace.
Attorney Tom Hoberman confirmed Burrows’ death “with great sadness” to CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner.
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Burrows won 11 Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards.
In a statement shared with U.S. outlet People, his family said: “We celebrate the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of James ‘Jimmy’ Burrows, who passed away peacefully today surrounded by his loving family.”
Born in Los Angeles in 1940, Burrows spent much of his childhood in New York.
As a young adult, he attended the graduate programme of the Yale School of Drama, where he gained his first experience of directing.
After several years behind the camera, he co‑created the sitcom Cheers alongside brothers Glen and Les Charles; the show quickly became a 1980s TV hit in both the U.S. and U.K.
The Directors Guild of America, which awarded Burrows a lifetime‑achievement award in 2015, described him as “an incredibly generous colleague” who shared his “wisdom and warm humor with his fellow Guild members and all who worked with him.”
He was nominated 48 times for a Primetime Emmy across his decades‑long Hollywood career.
Actor Eric McCormack, who played Will in Will & Grace, shared a tribute on social media, saying Burrows left “an incredible legacy.”
“The 800 lb gorilla of television comedy for fifty years, he was beloved by everyone, and has left not a mark but a footprint,” he wrote.
A spokesperson for NBC, which aired many of Burrows’ shows, said he was “the man behind the curtain”, whose loss to the television and comedy world would be “immeasurable.”
