Bob Bardo Dies; Longtime Dick Clark Productions Exec

Bob Bardo, a longtime production executive at dick clark prods, has died. He was 71. A dcp rep said today that Bardo died December 20 in Studio City, CA, but did not give a cause of death. “You knew there was always a light on at dick clark productions, and it came from the office of Bob Bardo,” the company said in a statement.

Born in Potsdam, NY, Bardo began his broadcast career working in engineering, operations, administration and sales at the local station level, eventually landing a position at ABC-TV in New York. He later transferred to ABC in Los Angeles, where he worked on such programs as The Lawrence Welk Show and Let’s Make A Deal. In 1985 he began working as an associate producer and later coordinating producer on General Hospital, winning a Daytime Emmy for the show in 1995.

It was also in the mid-’90s that Bardo began working with dcp as a freelance producer/production executive for many of the company’s major productions. During that time he also worked on projects for NBC, helping launch production on a pair of soap operas, Aaron Spelling’s Sunset Beach and NBC Studios’ Passions.

In 2002, Bardo joined dcp full-time as Executive In Charge Of Production, overseeing the budget, planning, staffing and logistics for virtually all of the company’s programming. Described as the “go-to guy” for every production, Bardo was the trusted confidant to Dick Clark and Fran La Maina, and his responsibilities continued to grow under Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan and Orly Adelson until his departure in 2013, dcp said. During his tenure, he was involved in the expansion of the Academy of Country Music Awards, American Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and the Golden Globe Awards, among many others.