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Russell Morash

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Russell Morash
Morash in 2023
Born(1936-02-11)February 11, 1936[1]
Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S.[2]
DiedJune 19, 2024(2024-06-19) (aged 88)[1]
Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationBoston University
Occupations
  • Public Television Producer
  • Director
Spouse
​
(m. 1958)​
[1]
Websitewww.newyankee.com

Russell Morash (February 11, 1936 – June 19, 2024) was an American public television producer and director. Morash's many educational television programs including The French Chef, The Victory Garden, This Old House, and The New Yankee Workshop, were produced through WGBH and aired on PBS.

His work earned fourteen Emmy awards, and he was the 2014 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy awards.

Early life

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Russell Fredrick Morash, Jr. was born on February 11, 1936, in Belmont, Massachusetts.[1][2] He grew up in Lexington along with his twin brother David and younger sister Ruth.[2] Morash's father, Russell F. Morash, Sr. was a carpenter and builder while his mother, Naomi Lingley Morash, a secretary.[1][3] In 1957, Morash graduated from the Boston University College of Fine Arts.[3]

Career

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Morash started his edutainment career as a cameraman for Boston public-television station WGBH-TV.[4] In 1961, as a cameraman, Morash met Julia Child when she appeared on a WGBH program called I've Been Reading, while promoting her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Viewers flooded the station with calls and letters asking to see more. The French Chef premiered on WGBH in 1962 and then was distributed nationally by American Public Television.[5] Morash began directing The French Chef in 1963.[3][4][6] They worked together on other cooking shows for more than thirty years.[6]

Morash's theater-inspired directorial style and the technology of the day, required that the staff and host—all collected in a makeshift studio cobbled together with equipment that had escaped a massive station fire in the case of The French Chef—would shoot each episode in one take. It established an in-the-moment template–also known as 'guerrilla television'–for a new kind of public television show that Morash took with him to launch other series, such as This Old House and The Victory Garden.[7] Russ' aesthetic was minimal, making use of the elements available on location, the audio diegetic, with one camera that would move with the cast to focus on the unscripted action. Geneva Collins wrote in Current that "His visual signature is the long unbroken take with the hand-held camera, with scenes lasting four, six even eight minutes without a cut." Morash himself had stated that he emulated the organic behavior of the human eye rather than use abstract "conventional television techniques," the former which gave the viewer the realist perception that they were in the scene of the action themselves.[8]

Steve Thomas (Second from Left), Russell Morash, Norm Abram, and NASA Astronaut John Herrington on a visit to the Kennedy Space Center for This Old House, 2000

The Victory Garden and This Old House spinoff series The New Yankee Workshop were filmed in Morash's own backyard in Massachusetts.[6]

Filmography

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  • 1955 MIT Science Reporter – Director, producer[9]
  • 1958 Ruth Ann's Camp – Producer [10][2]
  • 1962–1966 The French Chef – Director, producer[11]
  • 1966 USA: Arts and the University – Director[12]
  • 1968 James Brown at the Boston Garden – Producer [13][2]
  • 1971 Louis Lyons On Calvin Coolidge – Director, producer[14]
  • 1974–2002 The Victory Garden – Director, producer, creator [15]
  • 1975 Roaring Through the Twenties – Director[16]
  • 1978 Julia Child and Company – Producer[17]
  • 1979–2004 This Old House – Director, producer, creator [15]
  • 1983–1984 Dinner at Julia's – Producer[18]
  • 1989–2009 The New Yankee Workshop – Director, producer, creator [1]
  • 2001–2004 Ask This Old House – Director, producer, creator [15]

Personal life

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Morash's wife was Marian Morash, a James Beard Award-winning chef who also appeared on Julia Child's cooking show, appeared on The Victory Garden and edited The Victory Garden Cookbook.[3][19][20] He and Marian had two daughters, Victoria and Kate, including five grandchildren.[2]

On June 20, 2024, WGBH announced that Russell, leaving behind a legacy as the founding "commanding father" of the how-to genre of educational television, had died. He was 88.[15]

Recognition

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Morash's work earned 14 Emmy awards, including 11 for Outstanding Director of a Service Show, and in 2014 the Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in 2018.[15][21]

He was a fellow of the National Association of Garden Writers and the 2005 recipient of the George Robert White Medal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.[15]

Portrayals

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Fran Kranz plays Morash in the 2022 HBO Max series Julia with Sarah Lancashire.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Williams, Alex (June 26, 2024). "Russell Morash, 'This Old House' and 'The French Chef' Producer, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Russell F. Morash, 88". The Concord Bridge. July 11, 2024. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Beretto, Holly (December 2016). "A DYI Legacy Interview with Famed Public Television Producer Russell Morash". newengland.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Klein, Michael (November 18, 2021). "New 'Julia' documentary shows Julia Child as a cultural trailblazer beyond food". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  5. ^ "Create TV: Julia Child History". createtv.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Foster, R. Daniel (June 22, 2019). "'This Old House' creator Russell Morash's visionary career". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Seay, Bob (August 10, 2012). "First 'French Chef' Director Russ Morash Remembers Julia Child". wgbh.org. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Collins, Geneva (June 23, 1997). "Russell Morash: This old Yankee leads a guerrilla crew". Current. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
  9. ^ "John T. Fitch with Russell Morash, Jr. and Carolyn Carr". MIT Museum. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  10. ^ "Ruth Ann's Camp". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  11. ^ "In-depth with Russell Morash, the father of This Old House, Victory Garden, French Chef with Julia Child". LAist. Southern California Public Radio. October 9, 2010. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  12. ^ "USA: Arts And The University; Architects in Training". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  13. ^ "James Brown At The Boston Garden; James Brown Speaks to the Crowd at the Boston Garden". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  14. ^ "Louis Lyons On Calvin Coolidge". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Scherer, James (June 20, 2024). "'This Old House' creator Russell Morash has died". wgbh.org. Archived from the original on June 22, 2024. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  16. ^ "Roaring Through the Twenties". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  17. ^ "Julia Child and Company: Informal Dinner". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "Dinner At Julia's". The Vault at GBH. WGBH. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  19. ^ "Marian Morash". James Beard Foundation. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  20. ^ "Russell and Marian Morash". newwookiee.com. March 15, 2011. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  21. ^ Carthan, Alexis (June 21, 2024). "'This Old House' Pays Tribute to Creator Russell Morash". This Old House. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  22. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (January 14, 2021). "HBO Max Orders Julia Child Series 'Julia' Starring Sarah Lancashire & David Hyde Pierce". Deadline. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2022.

Further reading

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Awards
Preceded by Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards
2014 		Succeeded by
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