First female TV director Frances Buch, director of CBS’ first color broadcast, dies at age 92
By APSaturday, January 23, 2010
TV pioneer Frances Buss Buch dies at 92
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. — Frances Buss Buch, a pioneer of network TV and the first female TV director, has died in western North Carolina. She was 92.
Her great-nephew, Mark Spencer, confirmed Saturday that Buch died Tuesday at a rest home in Hendersonville.
Spencer said his great-aunt’s boldness led to her success “at a time when broadcasting was definitely a man’s world.”
The family says Buch joined CBS as a receptionist in 1941 and was soon asked to be in front of the camera. By 1945, CBS promoted her to be TV’s first female director.
Buch directed the first color TV program, a variety show called “Premiere,” in 1951 for CBS.
She and her late husband, Bill Buch, moved to Hendersonville in 1985.
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