{"id":247537,"date":"2026-06-21T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/jennifer-aniston-pays-tribute-to-father-figure-james-burrows\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T08:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:00:13","slug":"jennifer-aniston-pays-tribute-to-father-figure-james-burrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/jennifer-aniston-pays-tribute-to-father-figure-james-burrows\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Aniston pays tribute to &#8216;father figure&#8217; James Burrows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"byline\">\n<p>        <time itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2026-06-21\" datetime=\"1782028813\" pubdate=\"\">21 June 2026<\/time>\n    <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/jennifer-aniston\/\" class=\"exposure-link \" data-linktrack=\"LinkTracker,articleExposure,jennifer-aniston\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jennifer Aniston<\/a> has paid an emotional tribute to her &#8220;father figure&#8221; James Burrows following his death.<\/p>\n<p>                            <\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption landscape\">Jennifer Aniston has paid tribute to James Burrows<\/p>\n<p>The acclaimed television director \u2013 whose credits included The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Will and Grace, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Two and a Half Men, Mike and Molly and The Big Bang Theory \u2013 passed away on Friday (19.06.26) at the age of 85, and Jennifer admitted she felt the &#8220;pressure&#8221; to craft a message that matched the love he had always shown her and her co-stars while making Friends.<\/p>\n<p>She wrote on Instagram: \u201cOh boy \u2026 [broken heart emoji] Papa Burrows. The hardest thing about writing this is that you spent a lifetime making people feel loved, and now it feels impossible to put all of that love into a few paragraphs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe called us his \u2018kids\u2019 \u2014  \u2018Where are the kids?\u2019 \u2018Let\u2019s see if the kids can make the joke work.\u2019 No pressure. (heart emoji).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis own incredible children were generous enough to share him with all of us who were lucky enough to experience his unicorn presence.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cHe was a father figure to me. He always checked in on me. He worried about me, celebrated me, taught me, guided me and held me through the hardest times and the best of times. He spoiled us rotten.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Most of all, he taught us \u2014 the kids \u2014 how important it is to love and respect one another. To take care of each other. To have each other\u2019s backs and support each other, no matter what. And we did just that.(sic)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nLike Jennifer, her co-star Courteney Cox also recalled how James referred to the cast as &#8220;kids&#8221; as she reflected on what an important influence he had been to the stars of the beloved comedy series.<\/p>\n<p>\nShe wrote on her own Instagram account: \u201cI will miss you so much Jimmy\u2026 the joy and laughter you brought to everyone who knew you. How much you cared\u2026 but I know your light will always be shining on us.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cJimmy B called me Cox-N-Hammer. I have no idea why or what it means, but I just went with it \u2018cause he was Jimmy Burrows.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cHe always referred to us as \u2018the kids\u2019\u2026 he took the cast under his wing and taught us everything we needed to know \u2014 whether through his direction, or telling us how things in our lives were gonna unfold \u2014 never sugar-coating anything and he was always right.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI would beg him to make more time to direct us, but so did all of his other shows, because everything was better when he was around. You felt safe and confident and man, what a blast we had!<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure how someone with that much talent, wisdom, and adoration could be so egoless. Making anything the best it could be was all that mattered to Jimmy\u2026 well, that and his wonderful kids and his beautiful wife, Debbie. I so loved watching them fall in love.(sic)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nJennifer and Courteney&#8217;s tributes came after their Friends co-stars  Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow also remembered James.<\/p>\n<p>\nFriends star Matt LeBlanc wrote on Instagram: &#8220;Jimmy, words cannot describe the impact and influence you had on us and everyone who was lucky enough to have known you.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;You sir are a true icon on so many levels. Well wishes in your next act. You will be missed. God Bless.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nHis co-star David Schwimmer shared: &#8220;Jimmy Burrows brought out the best in every actor he ever worked with, and elevated every show he directed, making it funnier and more moving than anyone expected. His warmth, humility and generosity made us feel safe, like family, and I&#8217;m sure we weren&#8217;t the only cast to feel that way. He looked out for us, on camera and off.<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;Loving, wise, encouraging, challenging, instructive, patient, inspiring, playful &#8211; and on my best days, I&#8217;d like to think, even proud. Thousands of writers, actors, producers, crew members and network execs are forever blessed to have been on a sound stage with him, watching him work and learning from his incomparable talent. Jimmy, I miss you already and I&#8217;m forever grateful to you. Thank you for being such a wonderful director, mentor and friend.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd Lisa Kudrow, who also worked with Burrows on The Comeback, posted a picture of them on set together.<\/p>\n<p>\nJames is survived by his wife Debbie Burrows, his four daughters and seven grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Pagination --><\/p>\n<p><!-- playbuzz --><br \/>\n<!-- end playbuzz--><\/p>\n<p><!-- \n\n<div data-cn-project=\"femalefirst\">\n    \n<\/div>\n\n --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><br \/>\n<!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><br \/>\n    <!-- Outbrain { date: 2018\/06\/08 } --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.femalefirst.co.uk\/celebrity\/jennifer-aniston-pays-tribute-father-figure-james-burrows-1446290.html?f=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>21 June 2026 Jennifer Aniston has paid an emotional tribute to her &#8220;father figure&#8221; James Burrows following his death. Jennifer Aniston has paid tribute to James Burrows The acclaimed television director \u2013 whose credits included The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Will and Grace, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Two and a Half [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":247538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2915,4712,15730,827,2914,4713],"class_list":{"0":"post-247537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-courteney-cox","10":"tag-james-burrows","12":"tag-lisa-kudrow","13":"tag-matt-leblanc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}