Key Highlights
- His death was announced by his wife, the CAA agent Toni Howard.
- Although no cause of death was given, the announcement notes that Yarnell died with his wife by his side.
- Among Yarnell’s many producing and/or directing credits are Firing Line with Buckley, the 11-year-run of TNT programming with Joe Bob Briggs, Candid Camera, Love, American Style, That’s Incredible and, beginning in 1972, ABC’s groundbreaking In Concert late night series that brought such rock acts as Alice Cooper, The Allman Brothers Band, the Bee Gees and Steely Dan, among others, to network TV.
- Related Stories Obituaries 2026 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries News Catherine O’Hara Dies: Beloved ‘Schitt’s Creek’, ‘SCTV’, ‘Home Alone’ Actor Was 71 Born March 14, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York, Yarnell graduated from Brooklyn Law School and then attended Cooper Union School of Art in Manhattan, where he was first inspired to pursue work in radio, film and television.
- Yarnell launched his career as the program director for Channel 5 in New York, and was a creator and executive producer of the news show Firing Line with the conservative Buckley.
