Courtesy/DGA

Iconic daytime drama director Larry Auerbach has died.

Auerbach, who is considered by many to be a pioneer in daytime television, passed away today in La Jolla, California at the age of 91 from complications of glioblastoma.  Auerbach helmed CBS’ Love of Life, from 1951 to 1980, which was its entire run. He directed the talents of Warren Beatty, Jon Voight, Jessica Walters,  Christopher Reeve, and Roy Scheider, who would all work on the series during the early parts of their careers.

Following Love of Life, Auerbach directed on a number of New York based soaps including: All My Children,  Another World , As the World Turns and One Life to Live.  It was at OLTL where he was very well known for his work, after his 29 years at Love of Life, so much so that he received a Daytime Emmy for directorial achievement in 1984.  It is estimated that Auerbach clocked over 3,000 hours as a daytime television director.   He was considered such a soap opera expert that Dustin Hoffman consulted with him on the film Tootsie, in which the actor played a soap opera star.

Larry was  also named a DGA Honorary Life Member in 2004, joining an elite group that includes Charles Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jack Warner, Lew Wasserman, and Jack Valenti and he received the union’s 1991 Robert B. Aldrich award.

DGA president Paris Barclay made the following statement today on the passing of Auerbach:  “Larry emerged as a vigorous presence right after the merger that created the modern DGA, diving headlong into a long career of service to the Guild and his fellow members.  Larry worked tirelessly, out of love for his Guild and his profession, to ensure better working conditions and stronger protection of creative rights for Guild members, and he was instrumental in raising the profile of daytime serial directors, the genre to which he dedicated his career.  Under his watch as National Vice President and a member of the Eastern Directors Council, Larry helped organize the renovation of the New York headquarters, and he played a major role in ensuring greater health and fiscal security for Guild members through the DGA-Producer Pension and Health Plans.  He was a dynamo – a strong and powerful voice for our members for decades – and we will miss him greatly.”

Share your thoughts on the passing of Larry Auerbach below: Did you watch Love of Life?  Do you remember his work from OLTL?