David E. Kelley

David E. Kelley with his wife Michelle Pfeiffer at the 1994 Emmy Awards

David Edward Kelley (born April 4, 1956 in Waterville , Maine ) is an American television and film producer .

Life

Kelley attended Belmont Hill School, Princeton University, and Boston University School of Law, and initially worked as a lawyer in Boston . He started writing screenplays in the 1980s. So he developed the story and wrote the screenplay for From the Hip (1987, German career with links ). After reading this script, Steven Bochco initially engaged him as the author of individual episodes for his television series LA Law , which he later also produced. He later created the series Doogie Howser, MD together with Bochco.Other series that were created by him or on which he worked on were Picket Fences , Chicago Hope , The Practice , Ally McBeal , Snoops , Girls Club , Boston Public , The Brotherhood of Poland, NH , Boston Legal and The Crazy Ones .

Kelley's television series became famous for their whimsical, sometimes surreal, comedy as well as their serious moments.

In 1993, David Kelley married actress Michelle Pfeiffer . Together they have a son and a daughter who was adopted by Pfeiffer before the wedding.

Although Kelley occasionally creates very original characters, many of them go back to a few archetypes.

The weird lawyer with a heart of gold: A slippery speaker who disregards legal and moral ethos when he pleases. But when it comes down to it, e.g. B. When it comes to children, he is doing the right thing. This character already appears in his first film From the Hip , in the form of the protagonist Robin Weathers ( Judd Nelson ). Other examples are Richard Fish in Ally McBeal , Alan Shore in Boston Legal and, with very little success, the Harry Senate teacher in Boston Public .

The brilliant but senile old lawyer: Although it is questioned whether he should work as a lawyer (or teacher) at all, it is often referred to as a legend . He often forgets details during processes (or school lessons). But he has "crutches" that help him hide his forgetfulness. Examples are Raymond Oz in The Practice , Denny Crane in Boston Legal , Harvey Lipschultz in Boston Public, and Douglas Wombaugh in Picket Fences . The last two characters were played by the same actor - Fyvush Finkel .

The Copyright Infringing Defendant: Defendant with the delusion that he is an icon of copyrighted American folklore, like a comic book hero or a movie actor. For example, Lindsay Dole defends a man in The Practice who thinks he is Hannibal Lecter and calls her "Clarice" all the time. In another episode, a mentally ill patient thinks he is Superman and tries to fly off a hospital windowsill.

The eternal moral conflict of the defenders of criminals: Lawyers who defend the guilty are often cursed for bringing murderers and rapists to freedom. You need to keep reminding yourself that you are doing it for the common good. To prevent the state power from imprisoning people at will. It was the most prominent topic in The Practice , but appears in all of Kelley's series.

Morality and law contradict each other: There are situations in which it is morally wrong to obey the law and situations in which it is unlawful to act morally. For example, in one episode of The Practice series , Jimmy Berlutti learns about a boy with a brain aneurysm . An urgently needed preventive operation cannot be performed because the insurance forbids this information to be passed on. Berlutti risks being banned from the profession by telling the boy's parents about the necessary operation.

There are always crossovers between his series (the characters in one series appear in another series). So transfers Jill Brock in Picket Fences lawyer Douglas Wambaugh to Chicago Hope . The lawyer Ellenor Frutt from The Practice represents a teacher against his dismissal from high school Boston Public laments. Or the lawyers from Ally McBeal call their colleagues from The Practice for help when it comes to a particularly sensitive case.
What is also striking is his preference again and again to use actors he has worked with in later projects. Both Kathy Baker and Fyvush Finkel were leading actors in Picket Fences and later in Boston Public . And Anthony Heald and René Auberjonois both played judges in The Practice before starring in Boston Public and Boston Legal , respectively . Lauren Holly has appeared in Picket Fences and Chicago Hope , but in different roles. Mark Valley starred in the first three seasons of Boston Legal and played a lawyer again from the second season of Harry's Law .