Hal Gurnee

Harold Gurnee is an American television director whose career stretched from the 1960s. However, he's best remembered for having directed all of the television shows hosted by David Letterman on NBC during the 1980s and 1990s.

Life and career

Gurnee was born in New York City on January 25, 1925. He directed the NBC daytime program The David Letterman Show, then moved with Letterman to Late Night with David Letterman in 1982. By his own account, Gurnee was preparing to retire when Letterman approached him to direct his show; Gurnee stayed with Letterman for 15 years. Gurnee himself would often be heard or appear on the show, when Letterman would call on him in the control room to facilitate a comedy segment. When introducing him, Letterman would deliberately stumble over and mispronounce his last name, or confuse him with Dan Gurney.
When Letterman moved to CBS in 1993, Gurnee followed him to direct the Late Show with David Letterman, and remained its director and supervising producer from 1993 to 1995. He retired from the Late Show at this time, but still took occasional directing assignments elsewhere.