Items22The creator’s order
  1. 1Desi ArnazDesi ArnazBorn 2 Mar 1917Desi Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo in I Love Lucy, but his bigger legacy was behind the scenes. He insisted the show be filmed on 35mm with three cameras before a live audience, working with the cinematographer Karl Freund, and Desilu kept ownership of the films, which made reruns possible and set the…0i
  2. 2Lucille BallLucille BallBorn 6 Aug 1911Lucille Ball bought out Desi Arnaz's share of Desilu after their divorce and in 1962 became the first woman to run a major television studio. Against the doubts of her own board, she backed the pilots for Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, two series that shaped television for decades after she…0i
  3. 3Carl ReinerCarl ReinerBorn 20 Mar 1922Carl Reiner was a performer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows when he wrote and starred in a 1960 pilot about his own life as a comedy writer. When it failed to sell, the producer Sheldon Leonard persuaded him to recast the lead with Dick Van Dyke, and as creator, writer and producer of The Dick…0i
  4. 4Mary Tyler MooreMary Tyler MooreBorn 29 Dec 1936Mary Tyler Moore founded MTM Enterprises with her husband Grant Tinker in 1969 to make her own sitcom, about a single woman building a career in a newsroom. The company went on to produce Rhoda, Lou Grant, WKRP in Cincinnati, Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, a run that reshaped both American…0i
  5. 5Ronnie BarkerRonnie BarkerBorn 25 Sept 1929Ronnie Barker was one of Britain's best-loved comic actors, but he also quietly wrote a large share of The Two Ronnies under the pen name Gerald Wiley, including the famous Four Candles sketch, so that material would be judged on merit rather than his name. The ruse fooled colleagues for years and…0i
  6. 6Leonard NimoyLeonard NimoyBorn 26 Mar 1931Leonard Nimoy, Mr Spock in Star Trek, made his feature directing debut with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), then directed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), the most light-hearted and commercially successful of the original films. Three Men and a Baby (1987) followed, proving he…0i
  7. 7Henry WinklerHenry WinklerBorn 30 Oct 1945Henry Winkler found it hard to get acting work after a decade as the Fonz in Happy Days, so he turned to producing. As an executive producer of MacGyver (1985 to 1992) he helped create a hero who solved problems without guns, and decades later his acting comeback in Barry won him his first Emmy in…0i
  8. 8Oprah WinfreyOprah WinfreyBorn 29 Jan 1954Oprah Winfrey founded Harpo Productions in 1986 and took ownership of The Oprah Winfrey Show, becoming one of the first Black women to own a major production company. Harpo went on to produce films such as Beloved and Selma and television including Queen Sugar, and in 2011 she launched her own…0i
  9. 9Jennifer SaundersJennifer SaundersBorn 6 Jul 1958Jennifer Saunders built her name in the double act French and Saunders, then developed one of its sketches into Absolutely Fabulous (1992), which she wrote and starred in as Edina Monsoon. Its satire of fashion and PR culture became an international hit, and she has kept writing for television,…0i
  10. 10Tina FeyTina FeyBorn 18 May 1970Tina Fey became Saturday Night Live's first female head writer in 1999 and an on-screen star on Weekend Update. She drew on that experience to create 30 Rock (2006), co-created Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt with Robert Carlock and adapted her screenplay for Mean Girls into a Broadway musical, building…0i