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Barnet Kellman (born November 9, 1947) is an American theatre, television and film director, television producer and film actor, and educator, best known for the premiere productions of new American plays, and for the pilots of long-running television series such as Murphy Brown and Mad About You. He is the recipient of two and a Directors Guild of America Award. He is the co-founder and director of USC Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts, and holds the school's Robin Williams Endowed Chair in Comedy.
He attended Colgate University, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated cum laude in 1969. He attended Yale School of Drama, eventually earning his Ph.D. from Union Institute at Antioch on a Danforth Graduate Fellowship. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, he studied theater and film in Europe and worked with renowned theater pioneer Joan Littlewood at her Theatre Royal in Stratford, East London, appearing in her production of The Marie Lloyd Story.
His WPA Theatre production of Key Exchange introduced playwright Kevin Wade and moved to the Orpheum Theatre for a year-long run, while his acclaimed Circle Rep production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea introduced playwright John Patrick Shanley and actor John Turturro. For Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, he directed the works of David Rabe and William Hauptman. He was an Associate Director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and, for ten years, a regular director at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center's National Playwrights Conference associated with works by Shanley, Lee Blessing and Richard Dresser. His Hudson Guild production of Lee Kalcheim's Breakfast with Les and Bess had a long run at the Lambs Theatre. Other notable premieres include plays by Israel Horovitz and Donald Margulies. He is a past board member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers.
He directed the Showtime adaptation of the long-running Broadway play Gemini and the CBS special Orphans, Waifs and Wards. He made his feature film directorial debut with the 20th Century Fox screen adaptation of Key Exchange, which starred Brooke Adams.
An opportunity to direct the pilot episodes of half-hour TV comedies brought Kellman to Los Angeles. In his first pilot season he mounted pilots starring George Segal, Oprah Winfrey, Patti LuPone and Kenneth McMillan. His second pilot season brought success when his pilots of Robert Guillaume and Murphy Brown were picked up as series. In 1999, Kellman directed the Murphy Brown finale episode, "Never Can Say Goodbye". He won in 1990 and 1992 for his work.
Kellman directed fifty pilots, half of which went to series, launching long runs such as NBC Mad About You, Suddenly Susan, and George Lopez. He also worked on CBS's Designing Women, Felicity, E.R., Ally McBeal, My Boys and 8 Simple Rules.
He went on to direct Disney's 1992's Straight Talk starring Dolly Parton as a sultry, wise-cracking DJ, and the TriStar Pictures release Slappy and the Stinkers for Sony Pictures in 1998. In 2000, he directed the ABC television movie Mary and Rhoda, reuniting Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper.
When Murphy Brown returned to the CBS schedule for an eleventh season in 2018, Kellman returned to direct the season finale.
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