Howard Leeds obit

Howard Leeds, Writer and Producer on ‘Brady Bunch,’ ‘Facts of Life’ and ‘Silver Spoons,’ Dies at 97

The Emmy nominee and Winnipeg native also worked on 'The Ghost & Mrs. Muir,' 'Diff’rent Strokes' and 'Small Wonder.'

 

He was not on the list.

Howard Leeds, the sitcom veteran who developed The Facts of Life and produced and wrote for The Brady Bunch, Diff’rent Strokes and Silver Spoons, has died. He was 97.

Leeds died Feb. 11 at his home in Los Angeles following a long illness, his family announced.

In the late 1970s, Leeds was a producer on the hit Diff’rent Strokes, starring Conrad Bain and child star Gary Coleman, when he was asked by NBC head Fred Silverman and producer Norman Lear to come up with a spinoff.

“So we did,” he recalled in 2014. “I wrote the pilot with Ben Starr, and we did it as an episode [“The Girls School”] of our show. It was no big deal at the time. It was just, ‘Well, here we have an opportunity to do a spinoff, so we’re looking forward to doing it, and we hope it works.’ And, by God, it did, didn’t it?”

                The Facts of Life debuted in August 1979 and ran for more than 200 episodes over nine seasons, from 1979-88. The comedy — which also tackled serious issues — revolved around a group of teenage girls attending a private New York boarding school. Helping them along the way was their no-nonsense, compassionate housemother Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae, who had played a wisecracking maid on Diff’rent Strokes).

Leeds created two other ‘80s popular sitcoms starring youngsters: Silver Spoons, with Ricky Schroder as the center of a wealthy clan, and Small Wonder, about a family with a cute robot daughter (Tiffany Brissette).

Earlier, Leeds had produced 92 episodes of The Brady Bunch from 1970-74 and guided such shows as My Living Doll, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Hello, Larry.

Leeds was born on June 27, 1919, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He and his parents came to Los Angeles, and he graduated from Fairfax High School in 1937.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he returned to L.A. and worked at MGM. His first credit came in 1952 as a writer on CBS’ Meet Millie, the radio hit turned TV program that starred Elena Verdugo.

He wrote for The Red Skelton Hour starting in 1953 and three years later was nominated for an Emmy Award for best comedy writing for his work on The George Gobel Show (Lear and his partner, Bud Yorkin, also wrote for that comedy).

Leeds later wrote for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, Bachelor Father, The Bob Cummings Show, Make Room for Daddy, My Three Sons, Bewitched and Barney Miller, and for variety specials toplined by Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Benny Hill.

                From 1976-78, he served as executive producer of drama and comedy for television and motion pictures for Reg Grundy Productions of Australia.

Survivors include his wife Joan, son John, daughter-in-law Kim and grandchildren Jenna and Erin.

Writer (42 credits)

 2001 The Wonderful World of Disney (TV Series) (series developer - 1 episode)

- The Facts of Life Reunion (2001) ... (series developer)

  Small Wonder (TV Series) (created by - 96 episodes, 1985 - 1989) (written by - 1 episode, 1985)

- Thy Neighbor's Wife (1989) ... (creator)

- See No Evil (1989) ... (creator)

- The Strike (1989) ... (creator)

- The Tattletale (1989) ... (creator)

- Vicki Doolittle (1989) ... (creator)

1979-1988 The Facts of Life (TV Series) (developed by - 201 episodes)

- The Beginning of the Beginning (1988) ... (creator)

- The Beginning of the End (1988) ... (creator)

- Big Apple Blues (1988) ... (creator)

- On the Edge (1988) ... (creator)

- Present Imperfect (1988) ... (creator)

  Silver Spoons (TV Series) (created by - 115 episodes, 1982 - 1987) (story - 1 episode, 1982)

- Let It Snow, Let It Snow (1987) ... (creator)

- Edward's Big Adventure (1987) ... (creator)

- Educating Rick (1987) ... (creator)

- Pardon My French (1987) ... (creator)

- Thoroughly Modern Mildred (1987) ... (creator)

  Diff'rent Strokes (TV Series) (story by - 16 episodes, 1979 - 1984) (written by - 12 episodes, 1978 - 1984) (teleplay by - 10 episodes, 1979 - 1984)

- The Boyfriend (1984) ... (story by)

- The Honeymoon's Over (1984) ... (story by)

- Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2 (1984) ... (story by)

- Hooray for Hollywood: Part 1 (1984) ... (written by)

- Drummond's Lady (1984) ... (story by) / (teleplay by)

1977 All at Sea (TV Movie) (from a story by)

 1976 Grady (TV Mini Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Bureaucracy (1976) ... (written by)

 1975 McCoy (TV Series) (teleplay by - 1 episode)

- Double Take (1975) ... (teleplay by)

 1975 Barney Miller (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Escape Artist (1975) ... (written by)

 1971 The Brady Bunch (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Ghost Town, U.S.A. (1971) ... (written by)

 1968-1970 The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (TV Series) (written by - 4 episodes)

- Ladies' Man (1970) ... (written by)

- Make Me a Match (1969) ... (written by)

- Love Is a Toothache (1968) ... (written by)

- Treasure Hunt (1968) ... (written by)

 1969 Julia (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Temper Also Fugits (1969) ... (written by)

 1969 The Queen and I (TV Series) (created by - 13 episodes)

- Kowalski of Harvard (1969) ... (creator)

- Don't Make Big Waves (1969) ... (creator)

- The Trousseau (1969) ... (creator)

- But to a Captain, Is He a Captain? (1969) ... (creator)

- Hossfeathers (1969) ... (creator)

1969 The Doris Day Show (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- The Flyboy (1969) ... (written by)

 1969 That Girl (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- The Earrings (1969) ... (written by)

 1967 Spotlight (TV Series) (writer - 9 episodes)

- Robert Goulet and Lainie Kazan (1967) ... (writer)

- Noel Harrison, Abbe Lane, Benny Hill (1967) ... (writer)

- Eddie Fisher, Connie Stevens, Roy Castle (1967) ... (writer)

- Bill Dana, Vikki Carr, Frankie Vaughan (1967) ... (writer)

- Trini Lopez, Frank Gorshin, Georgia Brown (1967) ... (writer)

1967 Las Vegas (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Premiere Show (1967)

 1965-1967 Bewitched (TV Series) (written by - 5 episodes)

- Bewitched, Bothered and Infuriated (1967) ... (written by)

- Accidental Twins (1966) ... (written by)

- The Catnapper (1966) ... (written by)

- Double Split (1966) ... (written by)

- A Very Special Delivery (1965) ... (written by)

 1966 The Milton Berle Show (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Episode #1.1 (1966)

 1964 The Bing Crosby Show (TV Special)

  The Bill Dana Show (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode, 1963) (writer - 1 episode, 1963)

- Mr. Phillip's Watch (1963) ... (written by)

- You Gotta Have Heart (1963) ... (writer)

 1963 Swingin' Together (TV Movie)

 1963 Vacation Playhouse (TV Series) (1 episode)

- Swingin' Together (1963)

 1962-1963 My Three Sons (TV Series) (written by - 4 episodes)

- Bub's Sacrifice (1963) ... (written by)

- The Pencil Pusher (1962) ... (written by)

- Chip's Party (1962) ... (written by)

- The Girls Next Door (1962) ... (written by)

 1963 McHale's Navy (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Instant Democracy (1963) ... (written by)

  Ensign O'Toole (TV Series) (story - 1 episode, 1963) (teleplay - 1 episode, 1963) (written by - 1 episode, 1963)

- Operation: Physical (1963) ... (story) / (teleplay)

- Operation: Casanova (1963) ... (written by)

 1963 The Danny Thomas Show (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- When in Rome (1963) ... (written by)

 1963 Alcoa Premiere (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)

- George Gobel Presents (1963) ... (writer)

 1962 General Electric Theater (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)

- The First Hundred Years (1962) ... (writer)

 1961 The Bing Crosby Show (TV Special) (as Howie Leeds)

 1961 The Bob Cummings Show (TV Series) (written by - 2 episodes)

- Always on Tuesday (1961) ... (written by)

- Vive La Credit Card (1961) ... (written by)

 1957-1961 Bachelor Father (TV Series) (written by - 4 episodes)

- The Greggs in Paris (1961) ... (written by)

- Bentley Plays Cupid (1959) ... (written by)

- A Date with Kelly (1957) ... (written by)

- Bentley Versus the Girl Scouts (1957) ... (written by)

 1961 The Tom Ewell Show (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- The Trouble with Mother (1961) ... (written by)

  The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (TV Series) (2 episodes, 1958 - 1960) (writer - 4 episodes, 1958 - 1960) (written by - 1 episode, 1960) (adaptation - 1 episode, 1959)

- Merle Travis and Molly Bee (1960) ... (written by)

- George Gobel (1960)

- H.M.S. Pinafore (1960) ... (writer)

- William Bendix (1959) ... (writer)

- Ethel Waters (1959) ... (writer)

1958 The Ed Wynn Show (TV Series) (1 episode)

- A Date with Mrs. Creavy (1958)

 1958 The Lux Show (TV Series) (written by - 1 episode)

- Episode #1.34 (1958) ... (written by)

  How to Marry a Millionaire (TV Series) (written by - 2 episodes, 1957) (writer - 1 episode, 1958)

- The Fourth Girl (1958) ... (writer)

- To Hock or Not to Hock (1957) ... (written by)

- The Penthouse (1957) ... (written by)

 1957 The Rosemary Clooney Show (TV Series) (writer - 1 episode)

- Episode dated 26 September 1957 (1957) ... (writer)

 1955-1956 The George Gobel Show (TV Series) (writer - 8 episodes)

- Arthur Treacher (1956) ... (writer)

- Howard McNear (1956) ... (writer)

- Charlton Heston (1956) ... (writer)

- Gilbert & Peggy Wright, Harry Anderson (1956) ... (writer)

- Tennessee Ernie Ford (1955) ... (writer)

1956 Climax! (TV Series) (teleplay - 1 episode)

- Figures in Clay (1956) ... (teleplay)

  Meet Millie (TV Series) (34 episodes, 1952 - 1955) (writer - 9 episodes, 1952 - 1955)

- Day Before the Wedding (1955) ... (writer)

- Witness Auto Accident (1955)

- Uncle Eddie Comes for the Wedding (1955) ... (writer)

- Mama, the Chambermaid (1955)

- Mama's Wedding Ring (1955)

1953-1954 The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series) (4 episodes)

- Accidents Will Happen (1954)

- Appleby the Dreamer (1953)

- The Nervous Tenor's Audition (1953)

- McPugg's Last Fight (1953)