| Burny Bos | |
| Birth Name: | Bernard Gerrit Bos |
| Birth Date: | 8 April 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Haarlem, German-occupied Netherlands |
| Death Place: | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Nationality: | Dutch |
| Occupation: | Actor, film producer, screenwriter and author |
| Website: | http://www.bosbros.com/ |
Bernard Gerrit "Burny" Bos (8 April 1944 – 1 December 2023) was a Dutch film producer, screenwriter and children's book writer. He also worked as an actor in children's programs on radio and television.
Bos started working with the AVRO-radio. In 1975 he received an honorable mention from the "Zilveren Reissmicrofoon" jury for the Ko de boswachtershow (radio) and in 1977 for Radio Lawaaipapegaai. In 1981 the Zilveren Nipkowschijf jury gave him another honorable mention for the TV series Lawaaipapegaai. In 1983 he received the Zilveren Reissmicrofoon for his entire radio oeuvre.
From 1984 to 1989, Bos was the head of the youth department in the VPRO. Under his supervision programs like Theo en Thea, Mevrouw Ten Kate, Max Laadvermogen, Rembo en Rembo, Achterwerk in de kast and Buurman Bolle developed. In 1989 he began his own production company Bos Bros. and he signed another year contract with the AVRO.
For the AVRO he produced programs and films like The Pocket-knife, Kinderen van waterland, Dag Juf, tot morgen, de Ko de boswachtershow, Hoe laat begint het schilderij, Mijn Franse tante Gazeuse and Otje. He was proclaimed as the "broadcaster of the year" in 1998.[1]
In recent years, he was focused on producing films. Working with his production company in partnership with Warner Bros. Entertainment, he produced several film adaptations of books written by Annie M.G. Schmidt. He received the Gouden Kalf film prize for the best feature film in 1999 with The Flying Liftboy (Abeltje) and in 2002 with Miss Minoes (Minoes). Schmidt's books Otje and Ibbeltje were adapted into a television series.
Burny Bos was the guest of honor at the Dutch Film Festival in late September 2007. For that occasion, he asked director Diederik van Rooijen to direct the short film Een trui voor kip Saar .
Bos also showed that he was worried about the future of the youth film in the Netherlands. Quality films are becoming increasingly difficult to make. According to him, the children's genre on television and in the cinema suffers from "ploppification".
Bos died of mesothelioma on 1 December 2023, at the age of 79.[2]