Saturday, June 20, 2026

The “Friends” Cast Remembers “Papa” Burrows: Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc Tribute the Famed Director

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The tributes keep pouring in for director James Burrows, aka Jim, who died Friday at 85.

The 11 time Emmy winner piloted “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and all its off shoots, “Taxi,” “Friends,” “Will & Grace,” “Frasier,” and just about every quality sitcom from 1970 until now. Wow.

Here are tributes from four “Friends” actors: Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc. Lisa Kudrow hasn’t published one yet, but she may be the most affected since Burrows worked an an actor with her on her just ended series, “The Comeback.”

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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