Tom Cherones, the director and producer who worked on 81 of the first 86 episodes of Seinfeld during the sitcom’s first five seasons, winning an Emmy and a DGA Award in the process, has died. He was 86.
Cherones died Monday at his home in Florence, Oregon, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, a family spokesperson announced.
Cherones helmed and produced the second Seinfeld episode, “The Stakeout,” which aired in May 1990, and he remained with the show through May 1994. He received six Emmy noms along the way and shared the coveted trophy for outstanding comedy series with creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and others in 1993.
The Alabama native was always quick to point out that NBC executives “left us alone” during Seinfeld’s infancy because they “literally didn’t know what to do with us.” He provided the visual language for the “show about nothing,” shooting multicamera in a way that achieved a cinematic look while managing its sometimes complex multiplot structure.
Known for his boisterous laugh and wearing loud Hawaiian shirts on the set, Cherones called the shots on many of the series’ most experimental and iconic episodes, including “The Chinese Restaurant,” “The Parking Garage” and “The Contest.”
He appeared on camera just once during his run, playing the director in the fourth-season episode “The Pilot” in which he declares that he was “Gonna rip that little guy [Jason Alexander’s George Costanza] a new one.”
Born on Sept. 11, 1939, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Cherones graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of New Mexico in 1961, then served a four-year stint as an officer in the U.S. Navy.
After the service, he earned his master’s in Broadcast and Film Communications from the University of Alabama in 1967, then produced and directed at various PBS affiliates, eventually landing at WQED in Pittsburgh, where he worked on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
He came to Los Angeles in 1975 and was a production manager for General Hospital and Welcome Back, Kotter and an independent producer for Warner Bros., ABC, CBS, Paramount, Lorimar and MTM Productions.
After leaving Seinfeld, Cherones directed 23 episodes (all but one) of the second season of ABC’s Ellen during its 1994-95 season; nine installments of NBC’s Caroline in the City in 1995-96; and 57 episodes of NBC’s NewsRadio from 1996-99.
He also directed or produced such other shows as Growing Pains, Berrenger’s, My Sister Sam, Annie McGuire, Boston Common, Men Behaving Badly, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Ladies Man, The Pitts and Desperate Housewives.
Cherones returned to the University of Alabama, where he taught a class in Television Production pro bono for 12 years. He also flew his own planes, put together a cookbook of recipes he’d gathered over more than three decades and nurtured prize-winning rhododendrons.
Survivors include his third wife, Carol; his daughter, Susan, and her husband, Daniel; his son, Scott, and his wife, Linda; and grandchildren Jessa and Thomas. He earlier was married to Bobby Cherones and to Joyce Keener until her death in 2006.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Tom Cherones and Joyce Keener Fund at the Western Lane Community Foundation or to Hilarity for Charity, which provides support for caregivers.
Read the full article here
