Bill Geddie Biography

William Fredrick "Bill" Geddie (born July 17, 1955) is an American television producer. He is currently the executive producer of ABC Daytime's The View, on the ABC television network. He is also a partner with Barbara Walters in BarWall Productions and is responsible for co-producing popular American television shows such as The Barbara Walters Special and The 10 Most Fascinating People annual special. Bill Geddie is also owner of Bill Geddie Productions.

Early life

Geddie was born in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated University of Texas at Austin in 1977, majoring in communications/film. He started out buffing the floors at KOCO-TV, in Oklahoma City and Geddie has stated that "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."

Awards & nominations

Geddie received six Emmy Award nominations and two wins. He is a screenwriter in his spare time, Mr. Geddie wrote the script for Unforgettable, a movie starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino. In 2003, he won a Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Talk Show category for his work as executive producer of The View. To date, he has scored ten Daytime Emmy nominations. He will be presented 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, stated: "Bill Geddie is an icon in the television industry."

Criticism & controversies

His role on The View has come into question at times. Geddie acknowledges that he is frequently featured on the show when he was interviewed by Broadcasting & Cable. The interviewer asked him: "You're on air fairly often " are you reluctantly cast into that role?" Bill Geddie's response: "I always say, ?if I can help you in any way, I'll do it. 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. I'm not an on-air personality and I think anybody who's seen me realizes that. But early on, the network thought it would be kind of fun to see there's this guy here in charge, but if you watch the show, you see that generally speaking I'm a side player and I'm basically there to get a laugh."

He has had well documented disagreements, in particular, with former hosts Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, and guest host Kathy Griffin.

Personal life

He and his wife reside in New York and the couple's two daughters reside in California.