Karl Genus, 84; TV Director Helped Found the DGA

Karl Genus, 84, a pioneering director of live television productions who helped establish the Directors Guild of America, died May 29 of a heart attack at his home in Asheville, N.C.

Born Genus Carl Benson in Bridgeport, Conn., and brought up in Detroit, the red-haired youth took his theatrical training at the Pasadena Playhouse.

During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps, teaching English to Nationalist Chinese pilot trainees.

After several years in small theater companies in the Midwest, Genus joined CBS in New York in 1952 to direct live presentations of classic plays for the new medium of television.

Among the works he directed for such series as Studio One, Playhouse 90 and Westinghouse Summer Theater was “I, Don Quixote” starring Lee J. Cobb, Eli Wallach and Colleen Dewhurst. The TV play later became the hit stage musical “Man of La Mancha.” Genus also directed Dustin Hoffman in the 1966 TV play “The Star Wagon.”

Genus served as president of the Radio Television Directors Guild. In 1960, he was a leading advocate for merging that group with the Screen Directors Guild into what is now the Directors Guild of America.

He went on to serve as a vice president of the merged group for 26 years.