According to Wikipedia, “It’s possible that Larry Auerbach has directed more dramatic television than any other American director (approximately 3,000 hours).” Nearly every one of those hours has been devoted to soap operas, in particular the long-running daytime drama Love of Life, which Auerbach helmed from its first episode in 1951 until its cancellation in 1980. Here, Auerbach offers Esopus readers his recollections of and frank opinions about working in soaps for nearly a half century.
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The Lifer
Interview with Larry Auerbach
Larry Auerbach (1923–2014) directed the soap operas All My Children, Another World, As the World Turns, and Love of Life (for the entirety of the latter’s 28-year run). Auerbach received a Daytime Emmy award in 1985 for his work on the ABC soap One Life to Live and was also the recipient of the Directors Guild of America’s Robert B. Aldrich Service Award in 1991. In 2004, the DGA named him an honorary life member, a designation he shares with an elite group of filmmakers that includes Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, and Walt Disney.