Bruce Bernard Geller (October 13, 1930 – May 21, 1978) was an American lyricist, screenwriter, director, and television producer. He was best known for the action series Mission: Impossible (1966–1973), and detective drama Mannix (1967–1975).
Early life and education
Geller was born in a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Dorothy (née Friedlander) and General Sessions Judge Abraham N. Geller. Geller graduated from Yale University in 1952, where he had studied psychology and sociology and was involved in many activities including theater.
Career
He pursued a career writing scripts for shows on the DuMont Television Network including Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop (1953) and others. He also wrote the book and lyrics for musical theatre productions including Livin' the Life (1957) and All in Love (1961), but his efforts met with only modest success. Geller left New York for Los Angeles, where he was employed writing scripts for episodes of several television series, including Zane Grey Theater, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Rebel, and The Rifleman. He also worked as the co-executive producer of the Rawhide series for the 1964-1965 television season.
While producing Rawhide, he developed the idea for a new "cloak-and-dagger" series, Mission: Impossible. He is interred in the Jewish Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Accolades
{| class="wikitable"
|+Awards and nominations
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Work
! Result
|-
| 1961 || rowspan="3"|Writers Guild of America Awards || Anthology Drama, 30 Minutes in Length || The DuPont Show with June Allyson: "The Trench Coat" ||
|-
| 1962 || Episodic Drama || The Westerner: "Brown" ||
|-
| 1964 || Anthology, Any Length || The Dick Powell Show: "The Judge" ||
|-
| 1965 || Bronze Wrangler || Fictional Television Drama || Rawhide: "Corporal Dasovic" ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1967 || rowspan="3"|Primetime Emmy Awards || Outstanding Dramatic Series || rowspan="3"|Mission: Impossible: "Pilot" ||
|-
| Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama ||
|-
| rowspan="2"|1969 || Outstanding Dramatic Series ||
|-
| Writers Guild of America Awards || Episodic Drama || Mannix: "The Name is Mannix" ||
|-
| 1972 || rowspan="2"|Primetime Emmy Awards || rowspan="2"|Outstanding Drama Series || rowspan="2"|Mannix ||
|-
| 1973 ||
|}