Producer Marian Rees: Iowa Time Machine October 31, 1927

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On October 31, 1927, two-time Emmy-winning producer Marian Rees was born in LeMars. A glass-ceiling-shattering Hollywood trailblazer, Rees rose from NBC receptionist to studio executive.

Rees spent her childhood in northwestern Iowa and shone as her class valedictorian at Carroll High School. She went on to study at the University of Iowa, where she majored in sociology and played the drums with the Scottish Highlanders. Rees headed west after graduation and took a job as a receptionist with NBC. She quickly worked her way up, first as a production secretary on “The Dennis Day Show” and then as a production assistant on “Lux Video Theater.” Rees kept climbing while serving as an assistant to the producer for “The Frank Sinatra Series.”

In 1959, the NBC live special “An Evening with Fred Astaire” provided Rees’s big break. She served as associate producer on the special, which won 11 Emmy Awards. After being promoted to vice president and production assistant at Tandem Production, she began working on shows, including “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son.”

Moving to Tomorrow Entertainment in 1973, she went on to produce Emmy-winner “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” “Tell Me Where It Hurts,” “Orphan Train,” and many other notable projects. Eventually moving to NRW Company Features Division, Rees continued to develop a trademark of working on projects with social concerns. #Iowa #OTD #TV #Hollywood #Producer