Larry Gelbart

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

Life and work

He started his career in the 1940s when radio, where he wrote scripts for the Danny Thomas Show. He soon found its way to television. There he worked for Bob Hope and Sid Caesar, together with other young writers such as Woody Allen, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.

In 1962 he wrote the book for the successful Broadway musical Toll overdone it the ancient Romans, which was later made ​​into a movie. After that he went to England for several years, where he worked for various television series.

In 1972 he was commissioned jointly with Gene Reynolds implement the anti-war film M * A * S * H by Robert Altman in a television series. The result was one of the biggest hits in the history of television. For eleven years the enthusiastic stories to an American military hospital in the audience. As the last episode ran across the screens on February 28, 1983 looking to 125 million Americans. 97 of the 251 episodes were written by Larry Gelbart.

For M * A * S * H won an Emmy Gelbart 1974. For his screenplay for Carl Reiner Oh God ... he was nominated for an Oscar in 1978. His co-written with Murray Schisgal screenplay for Tootsie in 1983 brought him another Oscar nomination one; for Tootsie He also received the NSFC Award, NYFCC Award and the LAFCA Award.

Larry Gelbart was one of the few Hollywood stars who actively operated for many years on the Internet. He participated regularly in the English M * A * S * H newsgroup. Since May 2005, he published a regular blog on the website The Huffington Post.

Filmography (selection)

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