Russell Morash was a TV producer who pioneered how-to TV as the creator of “This Old House” and director of “The French Chef,” among other PBS shows.
- Died: June 19, 2024 (Who else died on June 19?)
- Details of death: Died at a hospital in Concord, Massachusetts of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 88.
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Russell Morash’s legacy
Before Morash became a legend of public television, he got his start working as a cameraman at Boston’s WGBH-TV. He was working there when Julia Child (1912–2004) made an early TV appearance on “I’ve Been Reading,” promoting her new cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” The following year, “The French Chef” debuted on WGBH with Morash behind the camera as director. It was one of television’s first how-to shows, and it became a PBS institution, airing for a decade.
After the notable run of “The French Chef,” Morash had another idea for a how-to TV show. After growing up in the World War II years, helping his family maintain their victory garden, Morash was a frustrated adult trying to garden in a difficult space. Realizing that others might be having the same problem, he came to WGBH with an idea to turn a small plot of land next to the studio into a garden where some instructive TV could be filmed. That show debuted in 1975 as “Crockett’s Victory Garden,” and, after the 1979 death of host James Underwood Crockett, was renamed “The Victory Garden.” It aired for decades and often featured Morash’s wife, Marian Morash, cooking with ingredients grown in the studio garden.
While “The Victory Garden” was underway, Morash next envisioned a show that could mirror his efforts fixing up his home. “This Old House,” debuting in 1979, originally focused on homeowners improving a decaying residence with the intention of selling it for a profit. The show evolved over the years, but it continues to showcase home improvement projects. In 1989, Morash launched a spinoff of “This Old House,” “The New Yankee Workshop.”
Over the many years he worked at WGBH, Morash won 14 Emmy Awards. In 2018, he was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame.
Notable quote
“I was told, ‘you have the crew, no overtime, no unusual expenses.’ So we’d get loaners for table linens and we got people to donate the food and they were happy to do so. It wasn’t, ‘Here’s a checkbook from WGBH.’ We did these for hundreds of dollars per episode.” — from a 2016 interview for Yankee magazine
Tributes to Russell Morash
Full obituary: The New York Times
