Bob Longenecker

Charles Robert Longenecker (July 9, 1909 - December 10, 2002) was an American talent agent and television producer.
The Early Days
Bob Longenecker was born on July 9, 1909 and grew up in Lititz, Pennsylvania. His dad was John F. Longenecker who started up a wagon business that later became several automobile dealerships in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Those days ended during the Depression after 1929.
Hollywood
After his college days at Penn State, Bob worked in New York City in radio advertising. He then came to Hollywood and soon started work at KNX Radio part of the CBS Radio Network. Later Myron Selznick brought Bob into his talent agency to start up a radio department.
In 1942 at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant he was invited to join two friends who were having lunch with MGM film star Ruth Hussey. The two friends soon left, Ruth and Bob talked, visited a book shop nearby after lunch, and Ruth offered Bob a ride back to work at the Selznick talent agency. They talked some more. They were married just seven weeks later on August 9, 1942, raised a family of three children. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2002, just months before Bob's death at the age of 93.
Bob Longenecker career
During World War II Bob, a graduate of the Signal Corps Officer Candidate School in May 1943, served as a captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and after the war he started up The Robert Longenecker Agency as a talent agent. In the early days of television he started up a film production company Tele-Pak, Inc. and produced several television program series pilots shot on film, including a western about Buffalo Bill Cody directed by William Cameron Menzies.
In those early days the idea of shooting TV programs on film did not catch on with the television network executives. Bob was ahead of his time. So, he stuck with his well respected talent agency for many years until he retired. Along the way he served as a vice president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Bob was the producer of the Emmy Award Show for about 5 years and had his own late night television show in Los Angeles for two years. He interviewed stars and others from the entertainment industry and showed a movie each night during the week. His theme music was "Light One Little Candle." He died on December 10, 2002, in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California.

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