Burny Bos

Bernard Gerrit "Burny" Bos (8 April 1944 – 1 December 2023) was a Dutch film producer, scenarist and children's book writer. He also worked as an actor in children's programmes on radio and television.

Life and career
Bos started working with the AVRO-radio. In 1975 he received an honourable 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 company BosBros and he signed another year contract with the AVRO.

For the AVRO he produced programmes like Het Zakmes, 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.

In recent years, he was focused on producing films. Working with his society Bos Bros, he produced several books by Annie M.G. Schmidt to family films. He received the Gouden Kalf film prize for the best feature film in 1999 with The Flying Liftboy (Abeltje) and in 2002 with Undercover Kitty (Minoes). Schmidt's books Otje and Ibbeltje were adapted into a television series.

Burny Bos was the guest of honour 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.

Radio programmes

 * Ko de Boswachtershow (1974-1984)
 * Radio Lawaaipapegaai (1976-1978)

Television programmes

 * "De Lawaaipapegaai presenteert: "Papelagaaiwaai" (1978-1982)
 * Villa Achterwerk - Central presentation as Lange Jaap (1984/1985)
 * Opzoek naar Yolanda - Lange Jaap (1984)
 * Buurman Bolle - Verteller (1989)
 * Ko de Boswachtershow - Ko de Boswachter (television series) (1990)
 * Studio Trappelzak
 * Hoe laat begint het schilderij
 * Dag huis, dag tuin, dag opbergschuur
 * Lawaai Papegaai (television version of this radio programme) (also with Wieteke van Dort)

Filmography

 * Kinderen van Waterland (television series) (1990)
 * Het Zakmes (both film and television series) (1992)
 * Vinaya (1992)
 * Dag juf, tot morgen (television series) (1995)
 * Captain Cockpit (1994)
 * De jongen die niet meer praatte (both film and television series) (1995)
 * Always yours, for never (1996)
 * Mijn Franse tante Gazeuse (television series) (1996)
 * Otje (television series) (1998)
 * The Flying Liftboy (both film and television series) (1998)
 * Knofje (television series) (2001)
 * Undercover Kitty (both film and television series) (2001)
 * Ja zuster, nee zuster (both film and television series) (2002)
 * Pluk van de Petteflet (both film and television series) (2004)
 * Ibbeltje (television series) (2004)
 * Het paard van Sinterklaas (2005)
 * Waltz (2006)
 * Een trui voor kip Saar (2007)
 * Waar is het paard van Sinterklaas? (2007)
 * Wiplala (2014)
 * Dikkie Dik en de verdwenen knuffel (2024) (narrator) (posthumous)
 * Een nieuwe vriend voor Dikkie Dik (2024) (narrator) (posthumous)