William Asher (born August 8, 1921) is an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter.
Born in New York City, his mother was actress Lillian Bonner and his father was Jewish American producer E.M. Asher (who produced films for Mack Sennett).
His most famous works include directing episodes of the Colgate Comedy Hour (1950), I Love Lucy (1951), Our Miss Brooks (1952), General Electric Theater (1953), Make Room for Daddy (1953), December Bride (1954), The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Patty Duke Show (1963), Bewitched (1964), Gidget (1965), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Private Benjamin (1981) and Alice (1976-85).
Asher directed 110 out of the 179 episodes of I Love Lucy (1951 - 1957), and produced and directed the 218 episodes of Bewitched, which ran for eight seasons (1964 to 1972). Both series still run in syndication in dozens of languages today. He was married to the co-star of Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery from 1963. They had three children, and then divorced in 1973.
He directed several movies, and wrote and directed the popular beach movies starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon - Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965).
Asher received a star in Palm Springs' Walk of Stars - located at 100 North Palm Canyon Drive, and dedicated in November 2003.
Asher resides in Palm Springs, California, with his fourth wife, Meredith.
His family continues on in show business. Asher's daughter (with Montgomery) Rebecca Asher is a script supervisor.
His adopted son (from his marriage to actress Joyce Bulifant), John Mallory Asher starred in Weird Science (as Gary) and then directed Hilary Swank in Kounterfeit. He continued his directorial endeavors with Diamonds, starring Kirk Douglas, Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall and Jenny McCarthy (John's former wife).
