Work of James Burrows ’62 Leads to 3 Emmys in Sunday’s Awards Ceremony By Betty Gabrielli
	Will and Grace cast photo from ABC-TV web coverage of the 2000 Emmy awards		SEPTEMBER 13, 2000--Legendary television director James Burrows '62 has another award to put on his mantel. Sunday night Will and Grace, the critically acclaimed NBC-TV show that Burrows helms as executive producer, was named Outstanding Comedy series by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Will and Grace second bananas Sean Hayes and Megan Mullaly also won Emmys for their supporting roles as Karen and Jack Besides winning three Emmys, the show had garnered three Emmy nominations: for leads Eric McCormack (Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series) and Debra Messing (Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series) and for Burrows, (Outstanding Director of a Comedy Series). Burrows, best known as co-creator, executive producer, and director of Cheers, an 11-season megahit and the most nominated series in the Television Academy’s history, has directed Will and Grace since its debut during the 1998-99 season. In between, he’s also been known to lend a hand to episodes of Frasier, Friends, and Third Rock from the Sun. Burrows visited Oberlin in 1996 to inaugurate the College’s Robert S. Danforth Lectureship series. During his stay, besides giving the Danforth lecture to a standing-room-only audience in Hall Auditorium, he recounted his history in the entertainment business and gave career tips to students. The director was then dividing his time among three new half-hour comedies and the returning sitcom Caroline in the City. That fall the TV schedule reflected nine shows whose pilot episodes he had directed. The number increased to 10 when another, Chicago Sons, debuted as a midseason replacement. A recipient of the 1996 American Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award, Burrows has won nine Emmys (five for directing) and is a three-time Director’s Guild of America winner. Following graduation from Oberlin, Burrows continued his education at Yale, where he graduated in 1965 with a Masters Degree in Fine Arts. Before going into television, he worked on Broadway with his father, the renowned writer-director Abe Burrows, whose career included such classics as Guys and Dolls and Cactus Flower.
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