Jennifer Aniston pays tribute to ‘Friends’ director James Burrows
Jennifer Aniston posted a heartfelt tribute to her longtime “Friends” director James Burrows, who died Friday at the age of 85.
“Daddy Burrows. The hardest part about writing this is that you’ve spent your entire life making people feel loved, and now it feels impossible to fit all that love into just a few paragraphs,” Aniston wrote on Instagram on Saturday. “He called us his ‘children’ – ‘Where are the children?’ “Let’s see if the kids can make the joke work.” No pressure.”
“His own incredible children were generous enough to share him with all of us who were lucky enough to experience his unicorn presence,” she added. “He was a father figure to me. He always checked on me. He worried about me, celebrated me, taught me, guided me and kept me through the hardest of times and the best of times. He spoiled us rotten.”
Burrows is often seen as the father of the modern sitcom. In addition to his role on “Friends,” he also co-created the iconic ’80s bar comedy “Cheers,” directed 75 episodes of “Taxi” and directed every episode of “Will & Grace” from 1998 to 2020.
Aniston concluded: “Most importantly, he taught us – the children – the importance of loving and respecting each other. To care for each other. To have each other’s backs and support each other no matter what. And that’s exactly what we did. I miss your voice. I miss your laugh. I miss your genius. Wherever you are, I hope someone asks, ‘Where are the kids?’
Among his dozens of other TV directing credits are “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Rhoda,” “The Betty White Show,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Lou Grant,” “The Tony Randall Show,” “The Associates,” “The Stockard Channing Show,” “The Hogan Family,” “Night Court,” “Dear John,” “Ladies Man,” “Wings,” “Frasier,” “NewsRadio,” “Third Rock from the Sun’, ‘Pearl’, ‘Dharma & Greg’, ‘Caroline in the City’, ‘George & Leo’, ‘The Class’, ‘Courting Alex’, ‘Back to You’, ‘Two and a Half Men’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Hank’, ‘Up All Night’, ‘Better with You’, ‘$#*! My Dad Says,” “2 Broke Girls,” “Partners,” “Mike & Molly” and “The Millers.”
