Earl Bellamy, a prolific television director who amassed a diverse list of more than 1,600 episode credits ranging from "The Lone Ranger" to "Leave It to Beaver" and from "I Spy" to "MASH," has died. He was 86.
Bellamy died of a heart attack Sunday evening at a hospital in Albuquerque. He had lived in nearby Rio Rancho, N.M., since 1991.
In a career that began as a messenger at Columbia Pictures in 1935, Bellamy launched his more than three decades as a director with "Seminole Uprising," a 1955 Columbia western starring George Montgomery.
Bellamy directed about 20 feature films, including the westerns "Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado," "Incident at Phantom Hill" and the Tony Randall comedy "Fluffy."
But, as Bellamy once said, "I got hooked on television," and it was in television that he became one of the most respected and sought-after directors.
The 1950s and early '60s were known for the proliferation of TV westerns, and Bellamy directed many of them, including "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," "Wagon Train," "Rawhide," "Daniel Boone" and "The Virginian."
In 2002, he received a Golden Boot Award from the Motion Picture and Television Fund for his contributions to the western film genre.
But Bellamy was equally at home with such diverse fare as "The Donna Reed Show," "Bachelor Father," "Lassie," "Perry Mason," "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Munsters," "The Mod Squad," "Fantasy Island," "The Love Boat," "Eight Is Enough," "CHiPS" and "Starsky and Hutch."
"He did a lot of everything; he was a workhorse," Boyd Magers, a friend of Bellamy's who publishes Western Clippings, a western film publication, told The Times on Monday. "But to me, the important thing about Earl was his irrepressible spirit. It rubbed off on everybody that he knew and came into contact with."
Bellamy's on-set motto as a director was "No strain."
"I have always respected the actors I've worked with and, as a director, I wanted to keep them relaxed," Bellamy said in an interview last year with the Albuquerque Journal.
"If someone flubbed their lines, no strain. Everyone I've worked with has appreciated it."
Ernest Borgnine, who worked with Bellamy on the 1960s hit comedy series "McHale's Navy" remembered Bellamy's "no strain" approach.
"It was wonderful working with him because he made everything so enjoyable," Borgnine told The Times on Monday. "When you worked with him, there was plenty of laughter all the time."
