Veteran director and producer Tom Cherones died at the age of 86.
He died on Monday at his residence in Florence, Oregon, after his battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Best known for the sitcom, Seinfeld, Cherones received an Emmy for it.
Tom Cherones, Emmy-winning producer and director, best known for his work on Seinfeld, passed away at age 86.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cherones breathed his last on Monday at his residence in Florence, Oregon, after his battle with Alzheimer’s disease, a family spokesperson confirmed.
Cherones, who worked on 81 of the 86 episodes of the first five seasons of the sitcom Seinfeld, won an Emmy and a DGA Award. He bagged six Emmy nominations and shared the prize for outstanding comedy series with creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and others in 1993.
He directed and produced the second Seinfeld episode, The Stakeout, which aired in May 1990.
The Chinese Restaurant, The Parking Garage and The Contest, among others, are some of the iconic episodes of the series.
He also appeared on the show, playing a fictional director in the fourth-season finale The Pilot.
Tom Cherones' early life and career
Born on September 11, 1939, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Cherones graduated in Journalism from the University of New Mexico in 1961, following which he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for four years.
Post the service, he received his master's degree in Broadcast and Film Communications from the University of Alabama in 1967, and then went to produce and direct at various PBS affiliates. He then went to WQED in Pittsburgh, where he worked on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Cherones worked as a production manager for General Hospital and Welcome Back, Kotter and an independent producer for Warner Bros., ABC, CBS, Paramount, Lorimar and MTM Productions.
Apart from Seinfeld, Cherones also directed the second season of ABC’s Ellen, NBC’s Caroline in the City and NewsRadio.
Growing Pains, Berrenger’s, My Sister Sam, Annie McGuire, Boston Common, Men Behaving Badly, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Ladies Man, The Pitts and Desperate Housewives, among others, are some of his other notable works as a director and producer.
