Claudio Guzmán

Claudio Guzmán (August 2, 1927 – July 12, 2008) was a Chilean-American television director, producer, art director, and production designer. Guzmán was born in Rancagua, Chile, in 1927. As a young man, he enrolled at the University of Chile to study architecture, following in the footsteps of his architect father. In 1947, Guzmán had been appointed set designer for the Chilean National Ballet, the youngest ever up to that date.Sources conflict as to when Guzmán immigrated to the United States, but by 1952 he had begun to establish himself as a set designer in Southern California. Guzmán had also enrolled at the University of Southern California in order to continue his architectural studies. His lack of fluency in English deterred him from continuing, choosing instead to work at an assembly line in Anaheim. Guzmán later quit that job in order to study design, eventually being hired by Paramount Studios, where he became an art director. It was there that Guzmán met Desi Arnaz, who brought him to work at Desilu, where he remained for eight years. During this period, Guzmán continued working in the theatre and performed on a comedy sketch with Red Skelton on his long-running television show.Guzmán began his career at Desilu by heading the art direction on Where's Raymond?, later renamed The Ray Bolger Show. In 1958, he directed the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse episode "Bernadette", a dramatic adaptation of the life of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes starring Pier Angeli. According to Angeli, Guzmán shot the episode in chronological order "so the cast—just like the viewers—could feel the impact of Bernadette's discovery of the stream pointed out to her by the Blessed Mother." The program earned Guzmán an Emmy Award in the "Best Art Direction in a Television Film" category. Guzmán also directed Border Justice, starring Gilbert Roland, and The Desilu Revue, which consisted of vignettes performed by Desilu's stars for the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.Other Desilu programs that Guzmán produced and directed for were I Love Lucy, The Untouchables, and December Bride. Guzmán was also color consultant and interior decorator for Arnaz's Western Hills Hotel at Indian Wells.In addition to I Dream of Jeannie, Guzmán directed such programs as Nancy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Good Life, The Fugitive, The Patty Duke Show, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, and Harper Valley PTA. He was also an executive producer on the series Villa Alegre, for which he received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. His rare film directing credits included the 1975 comedy Linda Lovelace for President, starring porn film actress Linda Lovelace.