Writer-producer-director Bruce Geller, son of New York Supreme Court Justice Abraham N. Geller and Dorothy Friedlander Geller, was born in New York City on October 13, 1930. He attended Yale University where he majored in psychology and sociology, played varsity basketball, wrote for the school paper, and was active in the theater.
Following his graduation from Yale in 1952, Geller moved to Hollywood where he worked for a year as a reader at Warner Brothers. In 1953 he married Jeannette Marx and moved to New York City. Geller sold his first script to a “live” New York television show, Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop, which led to other writing assignments for shows such as Rocky King, Detective and Flash Gordon. Also during this time he collaborated with Dale Wasserman on the musical comedy Livin' the Life (New York: Phoenix Theatre, 1957), based on Mark Twain's stories of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
In 1956 Geller's sale of a script to Kaiser Aluminum Hour led to his move back to Hollywood where he wrote regularly for such series as The Dick Powell Show, Zane Grey Theatre, The Rifleman, The Rebel, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, and The Westerner.
The year 1962 was important in Geller's career because several of his activities were successfully received in the entertainment field. During that year he was producer of The Dick Powell Show and was nominated for the 1962 Producers Guild Award. A musical he had written several years earlier, All in Love, opened in 1962 at New York's Martinique Theatre and ran for five months. This show also played at London's Mayfair Theatre in 1964. Finally, this year saw him co-authoring his first major motion picture, Sail a Crooked Ship (Columbia, 1962).
In 1964-1965 Geller served as producer for TV's Rawhide series during which time he developed an idea for a new “cloak-and-dagger” series and offered it to Desilu Studios. The idea was accepted, and in the fall of 1966 Mission: Impossible made its debut on CBS television. The series was very successful, eventually airing for seven seasons and winning Emmy nominations and awards for several of those years. Executive producer Geller personally received an Emmy as a writer in 1966 and as a producer in both 1966 and 1967.
During the second season of Mission: Impossible, Geller developed yet another series that was to run eight years on CBS. Mannix premiered in the fall of 1967 and also won Emmy nominations for Geller in 1971, 1972, and 1973, and a Golden Globe Award in 1971.
Geller's other television work includes serving as writer-producer for Hunter (CBS Friday Night Movie, 1972), executive producer for Bronk (CBS, 1975-1976), executive consultant for Jigsaw John (NBC, 1976), and producer-director of The Savage Bees (NBC Movie of the Week, 1976).
In 1972 Geller made his debut as a motion picture director with the film Harry in Your Pocket (United Artists, 1973), starring James Coburn, Walter Pidgeon, Michael Sarrazin, and Trish Van Devere.
Geller currently has many projects in various stages for his Bruce Geller Unit Productions. He and his wife live in Beverly Hills with their two daughters, Lisa and Cathy.
