Jay Henry Sandrich (February 24, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American television director who primarily worked on sitcoms.
[3] Preferring to work in television rather than feature film production (which would keep him apart from his young family), Sandrich began his television work in the mid-1950s as a second assistant director with Desilu Productions as an assistant director on I Love Lucy, December Bride, and Our Miss Brooks.
[3] He also directed the series pilot episodes of The Bob Newhart Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Benson, Empty Nest and The Golden Girls.
The director is one step closer to the performers and therefore more able to shape the script to the actors' needs and to come up with small bits of stage business.
Sandrich was proud of the program's pioneering portrayal of an upper-class Black family and its civilized view of parent-child relations.
Sandrich died from complications of dementia at his home in Los Angeles on September 22, 2021, at age 89.