Larry Gelbart

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Lawrence Simon "Larry" Gelbart (born February 25, 1928 in Chicago , Illinois , † September 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills , California ) was an American screenwriter and director . He is best known for a 60-year-long successful career as a writer of comedies and development of the television series M * A * S * H .

life and work

Larry Gelbart started his radio career in the 1940s, writing scripts for the Danny Thomas show . He soon found his way to television . There he worked for Bob Hope and Sid Caesar , among others , together with other young authors such as Woody Allen , Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks .

In 1962 he wrote the book for the successful Broadway - Musical Funny Thing Happened on the ancient Romans , which was made into a movie later. He then went to England for several years, where he worked for various television series .

In 1972 he was commissioned, together with Gene Reynolds the anti-war film M * A * S * H by Robert Altman in a television series implement. The result became one of the greatest hits in television history. For eleven years, the stories about an American military hospital delighted the audience. When the last episode ran on February 28, 1983, 125 million Americans were watching. 97 of the 251 episodes were penned by Larry Gelbart.

For M * A * S * H won Gelbart in 1974 an Emmy . In 1978 he was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for Carl Reiner's Oh God . His screenplay for Tootsie , which he wrote with Murray Schisgal , earned him another Oscar nomination in 1983; for Tootsie he also received the NSFC Award , the NYFCC Award and the LAFCA Award .

Larry Gelbart was one of the few Hollywood greats who was active on the Internet for many years . He regularly took part in the English M * A * S * H - newsgroup and published in May 2005 a blog on the website The Huffington Post .

Gelbart was married to actress Patricia Marshall (1924-2018) since 1956 .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gelbart, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gelbart, Lawrence Simon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter and director
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2009
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States