Paul Bogart, a puppeteer who bumbled into the new medium of television in 1950 and rose to be an Emmy-winning director known for popular shows like “All in the Family” and “The Defenders,” died on Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 92 and lived in Chapel Hill.

His son, Peter, announced the death.

Mr. Bogart was recognized as a master of live television, from game shows to high drama, and later as the respected director of filmed shows like “Get Smart.” Known for his skill in positioning actors for best effect and his attention to editing, he was “always just this side or that side of brilliant,” Tom Shales wrote in The Washington Post in 1979.

In 1982, The Christian Science Monitor called Mr. Bogart “America’s leading sitcom director.” Mr. Bogart once said that the situation comedy is “held in low regard by everyone except those who watch it.”

One of his five Emmys was for directing an episode of “All in the Family” titled “Edith’s 50th Birthday,” considered by many to be one of the more nerve-shattering shows in television history. First shown in October 1977, it depicted an intruder trying to rape Edith, played by Jean Stapleton, a character who had become beloved for her sweet naïveté.