23 Facts About William Asher

William Milton Asher was an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter.

William Asher was one of the most prolific early television directors, producing or directing over two dozen series.

William Asher was crucial to the success of AIP's Beach Party series.

William Asher was nominated for an Emmy Award four times, winning once for directing Bewitched in 1966.

William Asher was nominated for the DGA Award in 1951 for I Love Lucy.

William Asher's sister, Betty Asher, was an MGM publicist for Judy Garland.

William Asher's father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.

William Asher's family moved to Los Angeles when he was around 3, where he often accompanied his father to the movie studio.

William Asher's parents divorced when he was 11, resulting in a return to New York with his mother.

William Asher later recalled that this period of his life was filled with turmoil, because his mother was an abusive alcoholic.

William Asher served in the Army Signal Corps for four years, stationed in Astoria, Queens New York City as a unit photographer.

William Asher returned to California to direct Leather Gloves, a low-budget film.

William Asher eventually gravitated to television, and gained a job writing short story "fillers" for various programs, which evolved into a series which was titled Little Theatre.

From CBS Studios, William Asher received an offer to direct Our Miss Brooks, starring Eve Arden, a television version of the radio show.

William Asher was considered an "early wunderkind of TV-land, blazing a path in the new medium" of television.

Writer and producer William Froug described Asher as a "hyphenate of a different stripe, a director-producer", commenting that he was one of many "restless Hollywood professionals who, like nomads, drifted from job to job, always delivering competent, if not inspired work".

William Asher directed a number of theatrical release films, including Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, for all of which he was a co-writer.

Critic Wheeler Winston Dixon later suggested that the Beach Party films were not only "visions of paradise" for the audience, but for William Asher, who used them "to create a fantasy world to replace his own troubled childhood".

William Asher received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in November 2003.

In 1951, William Asher married Danny Sue Nolan, with whom he had two children; the couple divorced in 1961.

William Asher then married Elizabeth Montgomery in 1963, just before Bewitched began its run.

William Asher counted Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr.

William Asher died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at age 90 on July 16,2012.