ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080028
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
The scene: A woman, a newly arrived immigrant fearful of venturing out in New York, musters the courage to leave her apartment.
She takes a breath, places her hand on the back of a chair to steady herself, and heads toward the door - dragging the chair she still nervously clutches.
That bit of business from the 1970s sitcom ``Free Country'' is both funny and evocative. Comedy with a heart. That's the James Burrows directorial touch, which has burnished the best of TV comedy across two decades.
Through his work on ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' to ``Taxi'' to ``Cheers'' to current series like ``Caroline in the City'' and ``NewsRadio,'' Burrows has become TV's preeminent comedy director.
He took a medium commonly accepted as the property of writers, one in which itinerant directors tend to bump from series to series, episode to episode, and made it his own.
A deluge of scripts comes his way each year from producers who hope Burrows will give their pilots the edge needed to gain network acceptance. The lucky few win his services throughout the season; ``Cheers'' had him exclusively.
On Wednesday, Burrows receiveDa warm and respectful tribute during the American Comedy Awards. He was honored with the Creative Achievement Award, joining the ranks of past recipients including Mike Nichols, Billy Crystal and Neil Simon.
``You're the biggest joy in my professional life,'' said ``Cheers'' star Ted Danson. ``I love him madly,'' Kelsey Grammer, directed by Burrows in both ``Cheers'' and ``Frasier,'' told the audience.
And why not? Burrows not only knows how to make actors shine, he even likes them. And they know it.
``You feel like he's taking care of all your needs, taking care of all the problems. There's nobody like him,'' explains John Lithgow, who came under Burrows' spell on the ``3rd Rock from the Sun'' pilot.
Burrows doesn't defer to writers by limiting himself to camera angles. He deftly improvises physical shtick, those clever bits of business. He suggests rewrites when lines aren't working. He draws the actors into the process with a license to experiment.
``I'm the one who says go, go act, and then I'll be the editor,'' Burrows says. ``They go headfirst toward making the joke work, because they trust me.''
His manner is mild, almost diffident. But the right delivery can provoke a hearty laugh from the man whose eyes harbor gentility and wry amusement.
``If you get Jimmy laughing, you know it's really funny,'' says Lithgow.
Burrows learned his craft, and how to treat colleagues, from the best: his father, writer-director Abe Burrows, whose Broadway credits included ``Guys and Dolls,'' ``How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' and ``Cactus Flower.''
``It's as though my father were a tailor and I learned how to make a good suit by watching him,'' Burrows said.
Although Burrows perversely majored in government at Oberlin College, his dad gently steered him toward the family business. There was time spent in summer stock, then graduate study at the Yale School of Drama.
Lightning struck during a class on directing. ``Jeez, I can do that...,'' Burrows realized. ``There's something in the theater I can do.''
His apprenticeship included time on Broadway, working with his father on such productions as ``Cactus Flower'' and ``Forty Carats.'' He still uses the mental tricks Abe Burrows conjured up to inspire actors.
Like this: ``He wanted a guy to follow a girl around the stage. He used the image of pigeons, how they follow each other around in love,'' his son says.
In 1974, when James Burrows was on his own and working at a San Diego theater, he caught an episode of ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show.''
``They were doing a 20-minute play every week and I was doing a two-hour play,'' he recalls. ``I said `I could do that.' ''
Although with scant TV experience under his belt (a brief stint as a dialogue coach on the Burl Ives series ``O.K. Crackerby''), Burrows convinced Moore and her then-husband, producer Grant Tinker, to give him a shot.
He scored. ``From then on I never really had to look for work; it always sought me.''
Burrows, 55, doesn't regret making his name in television instead of the theater. And he refuses to heed the siren song of movies.
``I think the best comedy being done right now is being done in television,'' he said. ```Frasier' is drawing room comedy. It's Noel Coward they're doing. That's why I'm in television.''
He was touched, he said, by the American Comedy Awards honor. His three daughters and mother shared the evening; at one point, his 7-year-old reached over to gently wipe away Burrows' tears.
His late father was a presence as well.
``What it [the award] helped me to finally feel is that I'm on an equal plane with my father, which I never thought I would get to....I wish he were around to see it.'
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB