Coby Ruskin

Coby Ruskin (October 15, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was a New York-born stage actor, stage director, and television director whose career spanned several decades and encompassed Broadway performance, early American television, and an extensive body of work in situation comedy. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College and a Master's degree in French literature from the Sorbonne.

Ruskin's Broadway career ran from 1939 to 1944 and included four productions. He appeared in the comedy Sing for Your Supper, the play The Man With Blond Hair, the comedy Strip for Action, and Jacobowsky and the Colonel. His stage work extended beyond New York as well; scripter Harvey Bullock, recalling an encounter with Ruskin in England around 1957, described the director overseeing a segment drawn from a comedy running at the Garrick Theatre in London for a television program featuring guest entertainers.

Ruskin transitioned into television directing in the early 1950s. In May 1950, he hosted a weekly children's program on WNBT in New York, appearing as the character Gobo the Clown on a show called Gobo's Circus. Beginning in 1951, he entered into a long working relationship with television hosts Arthur and Kathryn Murray. In a 1959 account, Kathryn Murray credited Ruskin with encouraging her to expand her on-air role, beginning with record pantomimes and later incorporating dance steps, describing him as possessing unusual talent for comedy and skill as a pantomimist.

Ruskin's career was significantly disrupted by the Hollywood blacklist during the 1950s. He subsequently built a substantial body of work directing American sitcoms, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle – USMC, The Bill Cosby Show, and Here's Lucy. On Here's Lucy, he directed all episodes of the final three seasons with the exception of the last six, which were handled by the show's original director, Jack Donohue.

From at least 1940, Ruskin was married to Pittsburgh-born singer Lois Kaye, born Lucille Catherine Keicher. He died in Los Angeles on March 3, 1987, at the age of 75, from complications following surgery, as described by Chuck Warn of the Writers Guild of America. He was survived by his wife.