Hy Averback

Biography: A busy radio, TV and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s, Hy Averback began writing comedy material in his radio days. He acted in two films (The Benny Goodman Story and Four Girls in Town) and narrated a third (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), but the majority of his film work was as a director. After an uncharacteristic movie directorial debut with Chamber of Horrors (1966), Averback settled into the genre he knew best, directing such comedies as Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1966) and I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1969). Hy Averback's credits as a TV director are far too numerous to go into detail here; he was most closely associated with sitcomery, notably the syndicated 1954 series Meet Corliss Archer and the long-running (1957-63) Walter Brennan vehicle The Real McCoys. Averback passed away at the age of 76 following open heart surgery.