Award-winning Producer Burt Rosen Dies

Peabody, Primetime Emmy

June 3, 2008

Burt Rosen, a producer who earned Primetime Emmy, Christopher and Peabody Awards for his work, died of natural causes May 31 at his home in Westlake Village, California. He was 74.

A graduate of Brandeis University, Rosen served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957. During his military term he hosted his own radio show, Personality Time, which was popular throughout the armed forces.

In 1960, Rosen journeyed to Hollywood, where he began his television career as an administrative assistant at Four Star International. By age 26, he had worked his way up to vice president of programming and distribution.

Following his tenure at Four Star, he formed Winters/Rosen Productions, which produced some of the highest-rated television specials of all time, including shows featuring Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, Bob Hope, Tom Jones, Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, John Wayne and Cher.

In 1972, Rosen won a George Foster Peabody Award for Timex All Star Swing Festival, a once-in-a-lifetime television event that united the greats of jazz and swing. In 1974, he coproduced the animated Christmas classic, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Special.