Don Barnhart, was first a second assistant director then first assistant director and finally director on Mork & Mindy, serving on 57 episodes in total and helming three episodes as Director over Seasons 3 and 4.
Biography[]
Born Don Lewis Barnhart. Don was raised by parents with a strong work ethic, a sense of humor and values of honesty, generosity and punctuality. All of these traits served Don well in his lifetime. Don bought his first car at age 16 and belonged to "The Jacks" car club, where he was the youngest member and the only one with a curfew. He faced his mom and dad many times after arriving home after curfew.[1]
Died Oct. 3, 2016, succumbing to medical complications due to heart attack and stroke. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Don Barhart Jr. and Linda Vu; his sister and brother-in-law, Bonnie and Mike Dalton; and many relatives and friends. [1]
Career[]
Don spent his life in show biz beginning his long career as a radio personality in northern California and the northwest. He moved on to television and worked as a stage manager, assistant director and director. As an assistant director, he worked on many television specials featuring Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra and Ringo Starr.He logged over 1,000 hours on the daytime drama General Hospital and never called in sick. His additional film AD work includes Mc Cloud, The Bionic Woman and Beretta. Don's directing credits include, Benson, Full House and Hardknocks. He also directed 85 episodes of the syndicated series, Comedy Break and a three-hour live network show entitled "Celebrate America." [1]
Don directed eight seasons of the NBC Network teenage series, Saved By The Bell and the NBC Movie of the Week, "Saved By The Bell Hawaiian Style" and three seasons of California Dreams. He traveled to Montreal, Canada, to direct multiple episodes of Fox's popular teenage show, Student Bodies. He also helmed 12 years of directing the annual "Meet The Nominees" for the Director's Guild of America and in 1996 received the prestigious Franklin J. Schaffner Award.[1]
In latter years, he turned to writing and published four novels. He also returned to radio with his weekly program, Bring It On With Barnhart featured on internet radio where he shared stories from his career, interviewed celebrities and old friends and shared his take on the craziness of the world.[1]
Mork & Mindy[]
After working as stage manager and associate director on shows such as Doug Henning's World of Magic (1975) Far Out Space Nuts (1976) Van Dyke & Company (1976) and TV Movies / Specials like Ringo (1978) and Good Old Days Part II (1978) Barnhart was taken on as second assistant director for the newly launched Mork & Mindy, starting with the Pilot.
For the first two seasons he served on 38 episodes (12 in Season1 - all 26 of Season 2) in that position, before making a play to move up the series ladder.
"I started as a second assistant director. It is the worst position on the set. One day, here comes Garry Marshall with his entourage. He was the executive producer on Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Who’s Watching the Kids?, Mork & Mindy. I said to Garry, “I would really like to be a director. Do you think you can help me do that?” Everybody thought, what balls I had. Garry said, “I can’t do it. But I tell you what I will do. You go out and get yourself a director’s job and come back to me and we’ll talk.” [2]
"I went over to Benson with Robert Guillaume. Tony Thomas told me I could A.D. five shows, and the last one of 1980 I could direct. First day on my first big network television show on ABC, Bob stopped rehearsal and said, “Excuse me, what are you going to do with your cameras?” He was testing me. This is where it gets dicey. I could have been fired like that. I said, “Bob, f*ck the cameras.” Everybody just stopped. I said, “I’m only interested in the story.” with the demo tape from that show, he convinced show creator Garry Marshall to hire Barnhart as a director of “Mork & Mindy.” [2] [3] "Garry Marshall kept his word "He was one of the very few people I met in my whole career who did what he said he was going to do. They hired me back on as a second [for Mork & Mindy]. After a month, I moved up to first and [ran] the set. I ended up directing three or four episodes.[2]
He served as first assistant director on 16 episodes through Season 3 and 4, and his first full go at the directing helm was handling Elizabeth Kerr's return as Cora in Old Muggable Mork in Season 3. He also helmed Season 4's Alienation and the first of the Gotta Run trilogy.
Working with Robin Williams remained vivid in his mind. "He went out and performed all over the place, and he would drink and come in the next morning with one or two hours sleep. He was a genius. He would come in and his eyes were slanted and his hair was askew and he would go right to Mindy’s couch and go to sleep. We worked out a deal with the stand-in so when we blocked the show, the stand-in would go over and wake him up, kindly, and say, “Okay, here’s what we’re doing.” He would walk the areas so that Robin could hit his mark. Robin hit every mark, knew all his lines. It was amazing.[2]
Don Barnhart working with Jonathan Winters & Robin Williams on the Season 4 episode 'Alienation'
His toughest task on that set was trying to keep up with the rapid-fire imagination of Robin Williams. “His mental capacity was outrageous … He could do 10 minutes (talking to) an egg, which the audience loved,” Barnhart said. “But, in the editing room, you’d … try to make some sense out of it, we had to tighten his piece up. A show is only 22 minutes long.”[3]
When Jonathan Winters joined the show, the ad-libbing between him and Williams took things to a new level. “If you don’t learn funny from working (with them),” said Barnhart, “you shouldn’t be in the business.”[3] Directing Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters in the same scenes required several cups of cappuccino macchiato to keep up with them.[1].