Bruce Kessler dead at 88: The TV Director of ‘Knight Rider’ and racing car driver, has passed away

TV Director Bruce Kessler has died at the age of 88, he is best known for directing television shows such as ‘Knight Rider,’ and ‘The Monkees.’ Bruce Kessler was also known for being the last person to speak to actor James Dean before he passed away and also for narrowly avoiding death multiple times during his racing career.

Bruce Kessler developed a love for racing cars when he was a teenager and at the age of 21, he took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, he managed to get out of his racing car before it burst into flames. This was not the only racing crash Bruce Kessler was involved in and survived two more before deciding to retire from racing cars at the age of 26. 

Before moving into TV, he created a Formula One short entitled ‘The Sound of Speed’ According to Variety, the “technical expertise he brought to the film led to him being hired as technical advisor on racing and chase sequences for movies, and he served as second unit director for Howard Hawks on “Red Line 7000.”

Bruce Kessler went on to direct TV series and movies such as ‘The Knight Rider,’ ‘The Monkees,’ ‘The A-Team,’ ‘The Fall Guy, ‘The Rockford Files,’ and ‘Mission Impossible.’ Aside from racing cars and directing, Bruce Kessler also had a passion for designing boats and he built the yacht, the Zopilote on the hull of a fishing trawler. Alongside his wife, actress Joan Freeman, the couple cruised and fished around North America and the couple visited 34 counties from 1990 to 1993. 

In an interview with Power & Motoryacht,  Bruce Kessler spoke about how he was the last person to see actor James Dean alive and revealed that “Yeah in 1956 I was headed to Salinas with a friend. We had stopped at Cornell Corners for gas, and Jimmy [Dean] showed up in his Porsche. We knew each other socially, and we talked for a little—no famous last words or anything—and decided to meet later on. But he never showed up. We didn’t think anything of it at the time, just figured he found some girl. It wasn’t until later on that we learned about the crash.”

Bruce Kessler is survived by his wife Joan, the couple were married for 54 years, he also had two brothers Rick and Stephen.