Bill Geddie

William Fredrick Geddie (July 17, 1955 – July 20, 2023) was an American television producer. He is best known for being a creator (with Barbara Walters) of ABC Daytime's The View, on the ABC television network; he was the executive producer too. He was also a partner with Walters in BarWall Productions and co-produced popular American television shows such as The Barbara Walters Special and The 10 Most Fascinating People annual special. Geddie was also the owner of May Avenue Productions.

Early life

William Frederick Geddie was born in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1977, majoring in communications/film. He had a job buffing the floors at KOCO-TV, in Oklahoma City and he said, "When you buffed the floors—this is how informal television was back then—they let you run camera for the local news. What got me off the floor was that I went to the news director and said I had shot film before, so he gave me a job shooting film."

Career

Geddie was the co-creator and the original executive producer for The View; it debuted in August 1997 and he stayed with the show until 2014. His role on The View came into question at times. He was frequently featured on the show; he acknowledged "If I can be the brunt of a joke, if I can do to get a laugh, or if I can help in any way that's what I'll do. Otherwise, that is it. I stay out of the way... if you watch the show, you see that generally speaking I'm a side player and I'm basically there to get a laugh." Geddie had well documented disagreements, in particular with former hosts Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, and guest host Kathy Griffin. He left the show in 2014.

ABC Entertainment named Geddie as executive producer for Tamron Hall on January 22, 2019. He left the show in March 2020.

Death

Geddie died of coronary-related factors on July 20, 2023, three days after his 68th birthday.

Awards and nominations

Geddie received six Emmy Awards nominations and won two Emmys. In 2003, he won a Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Talk Show category for his work as executive producer of The View. He had ten Daytime Emmy nominations. He was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 23, 2012 for his contributions as writer, producer, and director in his more than 30-year television career. Malachy Wienges, chairman of NATAS said "Bill Geddie is an icon in the television industry."

Geddie was a screenwriter in his spare time. He wrote the script for Unforgettable, a movie starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino.