Robert Charles Schuler (April 30, 1917 – December 25, 2007) was an American advertising and public-relations executive, television producer and writer. He is best known for creating and producing the ABC-TV primetime variety series '' The Patrice Munsel Show''. Schuler was married to Munsel for more than five decades.

Biography

Born in Winona, Minnesota, Schuler studied at St. Mary's College, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He was an active member of the

Alpha Tau Omega Alpha Tau Omega (), commonly known as ATO, is an American social fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The fraternity has around 250 active and inactive chapters and colonies in the United Stat ...

fraternity. Schuler also studied acting at

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

's School of the Theatre in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and with Lee Strasberg at the American Theatre Wing. Schuler first worked as an advertising copy writer for Sears Roebuck in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Since he disliked the cold weather, he quit his job and moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He ended up living in an artist colony in Malibu where he founded the Malibu Theatre. He tried to make a career as a film actor, landing small uncredited roles for MGM, Columbia and Universal during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Schuler eventually gave up his acting career and took a position as Assistant Advertising Manager at Western Airlines. He returned to work in entertainment in the late 1940s, notably as the Associate Producer of the 1947 Broadway play, ''

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''. He then became a Director and TV Casting Director for Young & Rubicam. He later became the president of the public relations firm, Celebrity International, Inc. in New York City, serving in that position for fifteen years. In 1952 Schuler married renowned opera singer

Patrice Munsel Patrice Munsel (born Patrice Beverly Munsil; May 14, 1925 – August 4, 2016) was an American coloratura soprano. Nicknamed "Princess Pat", she was the youngest singer ever to star at the Metropolitan Opera. Early years An only child, Patrice ...

. During their marriage of fifty-five years they had four children together: Heidi, Rhett, Scott and Nicole. Schuler conceived and produced the ABC-TV primetime variety series '' The Patrice Munsel Show'', which starred his wife. The program was broadcast on ABC in 1957–1958. He wrote a 2005 memoir of his life with his wife entitled ''The Diva & I''. Schuler also wrote eight travel books entitled ''The Little Book: Dare to Do It Yourself'' series. He was a frequent contributor to ''

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

'' during the 1980s and early 1990s. For a number of years, Schuler and Munsel lived in Flower Hill, New York. Schuler died on Christmas Day 2007 at his home in the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuler, Robert Charles University of Minnesota alumni Northwestern University alumni Madonna University alumni People from Winona, Minnesota Flower Hill, New York people 1917 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American male writers Television producers from Minnesota