Bud Yorkin, ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Sanford and Son’ Producer, Dead at 89

Yorkin won three Primetime Emmys during his prolific career

Family Photo

Alan “Bud” Yorkin, a groundbreaking writer, director and co-producer who partnered with Norman Lear on such hit 1970s television comedies as “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons” and “Sanford and Son” has died. He was 89.

Yorkin died Tuesday at his home in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles of natural causes, family spokesman Jeff Sanderson said in a statement issued to TheWrap.

Yorkin was born in the coal mining town of Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1926, and discovered a passion for writing while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

After earning a degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon (then Carnegie Tech) on a football scholarship, he started his television career as a camera engineer for NBC.

He soon switched to working as a stage manager, then a writer for NBC’s variety showcase “The Colgate Comedy Hour.” He worked his way up to directing “The Spike Jones Show” and “Light’s Diamond Jubilee” and in 1957, he wrote, directed, and produced the Emmy Award-winning “An Evening With Fred Astaire.”

Yorkin won three Primetime Emmys, including awards in the writing and directing categories for “An Evening With Fred Astaire,” and he took home a third Emmy in 1960 for directing “The Jack Benny Program.”

Yorkin is survived by wife Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, sons David and Michael, daughters Nicole and Jessica, and four grandchildren. A private funeral will be held at a date that has not yet been announced.

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