Robert Klane obit

Robert Klane, ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ and ‘Where’s Poppa?’ Screenwriter, Dies at 81

He also directed 'Thank God It’s Friday,' which includes an Oscar-winning song from Donna Summer, and received an Emmy for 'Tracey Takes On.'  

He was not on the list.

Robert Klane, who wrote the screenplays for the irreverent comedy classics Weekend at Bernie’s and Where’s Poppa? and directed the disco-era favorite Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81.

Klane died Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home of kidney failure after a long illness, his son Jon Klane announced.

He wrote for the films Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Fire Sale (1977), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), Walk Like a Man (1987) and Folks! (1992).

Among his TV writing credits were six episodes of M*A*S*H* and The Odd Couple: Together Again, a 1973 reunion telefilm starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall that he also directed. He also wrote and produced Tracey Takes On…, winning an Emmy for his work in 1997.

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” Rob Reiner, an actor in Where’s Poppa? (1970), said in a statement. “Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.”

Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), starring Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman and Terry Kiser, and directed by Ted Kotcheff, grossed $30 million off a $15 million budget and spawned a 1993 sequel that was written and directed by Klane.

The phrase “Weekend at Bernie’s” has become a verb in the Urban Dictionary to define “the act of propping up a friend who’s passed out and can’t stand on his or her own.”

Klane’s “satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death,” his son noted.

Klane was born on Oct. 17, 1941, in Port Jefferson, Long Island. His mother, Adele, was a homemaker and community volunteer, and his father, Edward, was a physician. He grew up in the Long Island communities of Patchogue and Bayport.

After graduating from Bayport High School, he earned a degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963. His creative writing instructor, Betty Smith, author of the acclaimed 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, told him he had what it took to be a novelist.

At 21, with a young family to support, Klane accepted a job in New York with the BBD&O advertising agency as a copywriter and eventually directed TV commercials for clients including Coca-Cola. But after work, he stayed up late writing his first novel, The Horse Is Dead, which Random House published in 1967.

The story about a nebbish camp counselor who’s picked on by his campers inspired none other than Jack Benny to send a letter to Klane, writing that The Horse Is Dead was “without a doubt the funniest book that I have ever read.”

Though it was never turned into a movie, the money from selling the rights to producer Nick Vanoff enabled Klane to quit advertising and concentrate full-time on writing. The result: a second novel for Random House, 1970’s Where’s Poppa?

The novel tells the story of a beleaguered lawyer who vowed to his late father that he’d never put his mother in a nursing home, but when she begins to drive him nuts, he schemes to get rid of her by any means necessary.

When producer Marvin Worth and United Artists agreed to produce it as a film starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon and directed by Carl Reiner, Klane and his family moved to Los Angeles. His screen adaptation was nominated for a WGA award.

Despite Klane’s initial objections to the tamed-down ending of Reiner’s final cut — preferring instead the suggestively Oedipal one from the book — he realized it was the right choice after learning that the studio would not have released the film otherwise, his son said. The home video release, however, included his book’s version as an alternate ending, which also was shot.

When Sarah Silverman introduced Where’s Poppa? to a revival house audience in 2009, she said: “It blew my mind … It’s so hardcore and silly and funny in a way that I think is emerging now. I was surprised it existed then.”

Klane adapted his next novel, 1975’s Fire Sale, into a film directed by and starring Alan Arkin. Klane agreed with the majority of critics who panned the movie, his son noted.

Thank God It’s Friday, which he co-wrote (uncredited), marked his film directing debut. Among the movie’s highlights is a performance of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance,” which won the best song Oscar in 1978.

Survivors include his third wife, J.C. Scott, whom he married in 1984; brother Larry; children David, Jon and Caitlin; and five grandchildren. Another daughter, Tracy, died in 2011.

He was also married to Linda Tesh from 1962-75 and to actress Anjanette Comer from 1976-83.

 

Writer

Tracey Takes On... (1996)

Tracey Takes On...

7.3

TV Series

writer

written by

1997

11 episodes

 

Kidz in the Wood (1995)

Kidz in the Wood

6.0

TV Movie

written by

1995

 

The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993)

The Odd Couple: Together Again

6.1

TV Movie

written by

1993

 

Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser in Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)

Weekend at Bernie's II

4.8

characters

written by

1993

 

Tom Selleck, Don Ameche, and Anne Jackson in Folks! (1992)

Folks!

5.7

written by

1992

 

Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman in Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

Weekend at Bernie's

6.4

written by

1989

 

The Ladies

5.5

TV Movie

story

teleplay

1987

 

Christopher Lloyd and Howie Mandel in Walk Like a Man (1987)

Walk Like a Man

4.7

written by

1987

 

Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill, and Jason Lively in National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

National Lampoon's European Vacation

6.2

screenplay by

1985

 

The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

The Man with One Red Shoe

5.7

Writer

1985

 

Unfaithfully Yours (1984)

Unfaithfully Yours

6.0

screenplay

1984

 

Johnny Haymer in Mr. & Mrs. Dracula (1980)

Mr. & Mrs. Dracula

6.5

TV Series

created by

written by (creator)

1980

1 episode

 

Camp Grizzly

TV Movie

creator

1980

 

Judith-Marie Bergan and Steven Keats in Where's Poppa? (1979)

Where's Poppa?

6.8

TV Movie

characters

1979

 

Jeff Goldblum, Lionel Richie, Hilary Beane, Andrea Howard, Valerie Landsburg, Mark Lonow, Terri Nunn, Chuck Sacci, Mews Small, Donna Summer, Chick Vennera, and The Commodores in Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Thank God It's Friday

5.4

Writer (uncredited)

1978

 

The Banana Company

TV Movie

Writer

1977

 

Fire Sale (1977)

Fire Sale

5.4

novel

screenplay

1977

 

Rosenthal and Jones

TV Movie

Writer

1975

 

Alan Alda, David Ogden Stiers, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, and Loretta Swit in M*A*S*H (1972)

M*A*S*H

8.5

TV Series

teleplay by

written by

story by

1972–1975

6 episodes

 

The Michele Lee Show

5.8

TV Movie

creator

1974

 

Aces Up

TV Movie

creator

1974

 

Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)

Every Little Crook and Nanny

5.0

screenplay by

1972

 

Where's Poppa? (1970)

Where's Poppa?

6.5

based on his novel

screenplay by

1970

 

Producer

Tracey Takes On... (1996)

Tracey Takes On...

7.3

TV Series

producer

1997

11 episodes

 

Kidz in the Wood (1995)

Kidz in the Wood

6.0

TV Movie

executive producer

1995

 

Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman in Weekend at Bernie's (1989)

Weekend at Bernie's

6.4

executive producer

1989

 

The Ladies

5.5

TV Movie

producer

1987

 

Christopher Lloyd and Howie Mandel in Walk Like a Man (1987)

Walk Like a Man

4.7

executive producer

1987

 

Johnny Haymer in Mr. & Mrs. Dracula (1980)

Mr. & Mrs. Dracula

6.5

TV Series

executive producer

1980–1981

2 episodes

 

Camp Grizzly

TV Movie

producer

1980

 

Judith-Marie Bergan and Steven Keats in Where's Poppa? (1979)

Where's Poppa?

6.8

TV Movie

executive producer

1979

 

Director

The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993)

The Odd Couple: Together Again

6.1

TV Movie

Director

1993

 

Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, and Terry Kiser in Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)

Weekend at Bernie's II

4.8

Director

1993

 

Baby Boom (1988)

Baby Boom

5.8

TV Series

Director

1988

1 episode

 

Jeff Goldblum, Lionel Richie, Hilary Beane, Andrea Howard, Valerie Landsburg, Mark Lonow, Terri Nunn, Chuck Sacci, Mews Small, Donna Summer, Chick Vennera, and The Commodores in Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Thank God It's Friday

5.4

Director

1978