Lee Rich started his career at the Benton & Bowles ad agency on the General Foods account and helped Sheldon Leonard become a producer by sponsoring "Make Room for Daddy," "The Andy Griffith Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." He then became an independent producer and founded Lorimar Productions, where his first big hit was "The Waltons," which no one thought would survive on CBS against Flip Wilson on NBC Thursday night (they were wrong). Later, Mr. Rich ushered in the prime time soap era by taking a chance on "Dallas" (his company would also produce the spinoff "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest"). He sold Lorimar to Telepictures in 1986 and ran MGM/UA for a few years before turning to independent feature film production--the guy who eventually replaced him at Lorimar (and sold the company to Time Warner) was a guy named Les Moonves: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/lee-rich-producer-waltons-and-dallas-dies-41636
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