Tucker Wiard Dies: Emmy-Winning ‘Murphy Brown’ And ‘Carol Burnett Show’ TV Editor Was 80

Patrick Hipes

Tucker Wiard, who won five Emmys as a TV editor behind landmark comedy series including The Carol Burnett Show and the entire run of Murphy Brown, died August 28 in Los Angeles from complications due to heart failure, his family said. He was 80.

Born in Detroit in 1941 and raised in Lansing, MI, Wiard attended Michigan State where his major was Radio/Television. In 1962 he joined the Army where he designed and built the studio and remote videotape department at Fort Benning in Georgia.

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Wiard moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and worked in the videotape department at CBS; his first video tape editor credits came on the network’s The Red Skelton Hour the next year. He followed that with credits on Norman Lear’s All in the Family and Good Times before joining The Carol Burnett Show. He was editor on 48 episodes of the show’s run, per IMDb, and won his first Emmy in 1978 for the comedy’s series finale. He won another the following year for editing the limited series The Scarlet Letter staring Meg Foster and John Heard.

Other series credits during that time include Alice, Night Court, Charles In Charge and My Sister Sam. He won his third Emmy in 1982 for editing American Bandstand’s 30th Anniversary Special.

In a 2011 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, Wiard shared a secret of his trade. “That’s the goal — to try to become invisible as an editor,” he said. Watch a portion of his sit-down with Stephen J. Abramson below.

He would receive 12 Emmy nominations in his career, including eight for Murphy Brown where he won twice (including for the pilot episode) working for all 11 seasons on the original run of the Candice Bergen-starring comedy series from 1988-98.|

“It took an ensemble of very talented people to make Murphy the success that it was,” Bergen said Tuesday. “No one shined more brightly than Tucker. He made us look great every week for 10 years.”

He scored his last Murphy Brown Emmy nom in 1998 and worked on multiple projects until retiring in 2009.

Wiard is survived by his wife, longtime The Young and the Restless producer Nancy Bradley Wiard; sister-in-law Mary Boteilho; brother-in-law James A. Bradley; and nephews Jeffrey Banks, Alexander Bradley and Matthew Bradley.

There will be a private memorial service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Bichon Fur Kids here.

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