Norman Lear - # 315

Norman Lear, Sitcom Genius and Citizen Activist, Dies at 101

The six-time Emmy winner had quite the résumé: 'All in the Family,' 'Maude,' 'Good Times,' 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' and more. 

He was number 315 on the list.

Norman Lear, the writer, producer and citizen activist who coalesced topical conflict and outrageous comedy in such wildly popular sitcoms as All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and The Jeffersons, has died. He was 101.

Lear died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family who, according to a statement on his official Instagram account, sang songs until the very end.

“Norman lived a life in awe of the world around him. He marveled at his cup of coffee every morning, the shape of the tree outside his window, and the sounds of beautiful music,” read the post. “But it was people — those he just met and those he knew for decades — who kept his mind and heart forever young. As we celebrate his legacy and reflect on the next chapter of life without him, we would like to thank everyone for all the love and support.”

One of the seven original inductees into the TV Hall of Fame in 1984 (he entered with David Sarnoff, William S. Paley, Edward R. Murrow, Paddy Chayefsky, Lucille Ball and Milton Berle), the six-time Emmy winner, who teamed often with fellow writer-producer Bud Yorkin, also developed Sanford & Son and One Day at a Time, among many other comedies.

He and Yorkin came came to prominence writing for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin’s variety show in the 1950s, and at one time, Lear had nine shows on the air and finished one season with three of the top four highest-rated series.

Lear adapted Neil Simon’s Come Blow Your Horn for a 1963 film directed by Yorkin and cajoled Frank Sinatra into starring in it, received an Oscar screenplay nomination for Divorce American Style (1967) and co-wrote and produced William Friedkin’s The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968), at the time the most expensive movie to be made in New York City.

Later, he provided the funding for such films as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Stand by Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). The first three were directed by Rob Reiner, who taught Lear’s daughter Ellen how to play jacks when the kids were both 9 years old and went on, of course, to star as “Meathead” Michael Stivic on All in the Family.

In 1981, Lear, a famed Hollywood liberal, co-founded the the nonprofit People for the American Way, whose vision “is a vibrantly diverse democratic society in which everyone is treated equally under the law, given the freedom and opportunity to pursue their dreams and encouraged to participate in our nation’s civic and political life.” Twenty years later, he purchased an original copy of the Declaration of Independence at auction for $8.1 million and took it on a tour around the country for a decade.

A two-fingered typist, Lear also was known for the headwear he first donned so he wouldn’t pick at his bald head during bouts of writer’s block. “One day [his second wife] Frances came into my study and threw a little white boating hat on my head to keep me from picking. It worked, and that is how my nearly 50-year love affair with that white hat began,” he wrote in his 2014 memoir, Even This I Get to Experience.

Yorkin, in England directing Inspector Clouseau (1968), watched an episode of the BBC’s Till Death Us Do Part, a sitcom that centered on a bigoted father and his liberal son who bickered all the time, and brought it to Lear’s attention.

“Oh my God, my dad and me,” Lear wrote in his book.

“As a kid, when I wasn’t moving as fast as he thought I should, [Lear’s father] H.K. would call me ‘the laziest white kid he ever met.’ When I’d accuse him of putting down a whole race of people just to call his son lazy, he’d yell back at me, ‘That’s not what I’m doing, and you’re the dumbest white kid I ever met!’ ”

For the series that would become All in the Family, he and Yorkin secured the rights in September 1968 and had Mickey Rooney in mind for Archie Bunker, but the actor didn’t think the series would last. “You want to do a show with The Mick, listen to this: Vietnam vet. Private eye. Short. Blind. Large dog,” Rooney told Lear.

ABC passed twice on the series before CBS, then looking to wean itself of rural comedies like Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, signed on. And so, with Carroll O’Connor as the racist Archie, Jean Stapleton as his naive wife Edith, Sally Struthers as their daughter Gloria and Reiner as their Polish-American son-in-law, All in the Family, taped before an audience of about 250 in Hollywood, debuted at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1971.

It began with this disclaimer:

“The program you are about to see is All in the Family. It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show — in a mature fashion — just how absurd they are.”

All in the Family was No. 1 in the ratings for an unprecedented five years. At its peak, 60 percent of the viewing public, more than 50 million people, tuned in on Saturday nights.

“[All in the Family] endures because its creator was angry about injustice in the world: racism, sexism, homophobia, abuse of political power, economic disparity — the list goes on. In other words, angry about the right things, Seth McFarlane wrote in Vanity Fair in 2014.

More recently, the energetic Lear rebooted One Day at a Time for Netflix (and then Pop) with a Latino cast and saw episodes of All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times revitalized for ABC specials that made him the oldest Emmy winner ever.

In February 2021, he received the Carol Burnett Award via Zoom at the Golden Globes. “I am convinced that laughter adds time to one’s life, and no one has made me laugh harder … than Carol Burnett,” he said. Eighteen months later, he reminisced with THR‘s Lacey Rose after turning 100.

Lear was born to Jewish parents on July 27, 1922, in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Herman, known as H.K., was a scheming salesman who did jail time. His mother, Jeanette, was a housewife who often was told to “stifle” when H.K. wanted her to be quiet.

Lear wrote a speech, “The Constitution and Me,” that won him a scholarship to Emerson College in Boston, where he majored in drama. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces during World War II, flying 52 missions over Europe in a B-17 bomber, and said he was lucky to survive.

Following his discharge in 1946, he landed a job as a press agent for a Broadway publicity firm, getting $40 a week. In his first month, he fabricated an item that ran in Dorothy Kilgallen’s column in the New York Journal-American that said, “Kitty Carlisle gifted friend Moss Hart with a pocket flask measured to his hip while he napped.” Carlisle and Hart met for the first time because of the item and later married.

But after another (untrue) item about little people made it into another column, he “was summarily dismissed, and without severance,” he wrote in his book. He then went to work for his father, who was trying to convince someone to mass produce his nonelectric refrigerator.

Lear moved to Los Angeles to try his hand again at publicity. On his first night in town, in spring 1949, he stumbled onto the Circle Theatre in Hollywood, which was staging George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara. In walked Charlie Chaplin to watch his son, Sidney, perform. (Also in the play that night were Strother Martin, William Schallert and Diana Douglas, Michael Douglas’ mother.)

He and his cousin’s husband, Ed Simmons, began writing comedy bits at night, and they sold nightclub comedian Danny Thomas a routine for $500. They pitched two sketches to Jack Haley, the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz who was launching a live NBC variety show, and landed a job in New York as Haley’s staff writers. (Lear and Simmons later hired brothers Neil and Danny Simon to help them out.)

Lewis, who was about to host the Colgate Comedy Hour with Martin, liked a Lear-Simmons bit he saw on the Haley show and swiped them for the Lewis-Martin variety hour in 1950. (He and Lewis did a routine before each airing to warm up the audience.) In 1954, Lear and Simmons moved to The Martha Raye Show.

When Raye’s show was canceled, Yorkin, who was a stage manager and later a director on the Colgate Comedy Hour, asked Lear and Simmons to write for a new variety show hosted by country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford. Lear agreed but Simmons said no, ending their partnership. In 1958, Lear wrote for and produced a variety show led by George Gobel.

A year later, Yorkin — a hot commodity after he produced and directed An Evening With Fred Astaire, the first musical hour to be shot in color — and Lear formed Tandem Productions, and they inked a three-year deal with Paramount to develop TV shows, specials and films.

Tandem packaged NBC’s The Andy Williams Show, and the company’s first feature was Come Blow Your Horn.

Lear co-wrote and produced the $3 million musical The Night They Raided Minsky’s, starring Jason Robards and Britt Ekland. He produced Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), toplined by Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland, and co-wrote, directed and produced the comedy Cold Turkey (1971), which starred Divorce American Style star Dick Van Dyke in the story about an entire Iowa town trying to stop smoking.

United Artists offered Lear a three-picture deal to produce, write and direct, but Lear turned it down, going all in for television.

Lear and Yorkin brought Sanford and Son, based on another British series and starring bawdy Las Vegas stand-up Redd Foxx as a junkman, to NBC. The show, supervised by Yorkin, debuted in January 1972 and lasted six seasons.

CBS’ Maude starred Bea Arthur as Edith’s cousin Maude Findlay and polar opposite of Archie. In the spinoff’s first season, Arthur’s character, who was nearing 50, decided after much soul-searching to have an abortion. Two affiliates did not air the two-part episode, the first time any CBS station had rejected an installment of a continuing series.

“Of all the characters I’ve created and cast, the one who resembles me the most was Maude,” Lear wrote in his book.

Maude’s maid Florida (Esther Rolle) became the matriarch of CBS’ Good Times, set in the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago. The idea for CBS’ The Jeffersons, a spinoff featuring the Bunkers’ neighbors who strike it rich and move to a Manhattan “deluxe apartment in the sky,” came to Lear after members of the Black Panthers visited him to complain about Good Times being “a white man’s version of a black family.” The Jeffersons lasted a whopping 11 seasons.

In 1974-75, All in the Family was No. 1 in the ratings, followed by Sanford and Son (No. 2), The Jeffersons (No. 4), Good Times (No. 7) and Maude (No. 9).

The delightful soap satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, starring Woody Allen’s ex-wife Louise Lasser, was sold in syndication to 128 stations outside the three-network system and aired for two seasons in late night, five nights a week. That show spawned Fernwood 2 Night, starring Martin Mull as a talk show host and twin brother of a character who had been impaled on a Christmas tree on Mary Hartman.

Lear made millions selling his share of Tandem/Embassy Communications to the Coca-Cola Co. (which earlier had bought Columbia Pictures) in 1985. He later formed Act III Communications, which owned theaters, independent TV stations and trade publications, and bought Concord Records, merging it with an Australian company to form the Village Roadshow Entertainment Group.

Lear was married three times: to Charlotte Rosen, whom he met in high school, from 1943-56; to Frances Loeb from 1956–85 (she claimed to be the inspiration for Maude and received $100 million-plus in her divorce settlement from Lear); and to former teacher Lyn Davis, whom he wed in 1987 and who survives him.

Lear had six children — Ellen, Kate, Maggie, Benjamin and twins Brianna and Madeline — with the youngest and oldest 48 years apart. Kate’s husband is Jon LaPook, medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News, and Maya Angelou was the godmother of his twin daughters. He is also survived by four grandchildren.

In his memoir, Lear wrote that he learned a lesson about comedy from the live audience that gathered for the taping of All in the Family each week.

“The audiences themselves taught me that you can get some wonderful laughs on the surface of anything with funny performers and good jokes, but if you want them laughing from the belly, you stand a better chance of achieving it if you get them caring first,” he wrote. “The humor in life doesn’t stop when we are in tears, any more than it stops being serious where we are laughing. So we were in the game to elicit both.”

Producer

Clean Slate

executive producer

Pre-productionTV Series

1 episode

 

Good Times

executive producer

Post-productionTV Series

 

Fried Green Tomatoes

executive producer

CompletedTV Series

 

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Remake

executive producer

In DevelopmentTV Series

1 episode

 

Duino

executive producer

In Production

 

The Corps

executive producer

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3 episodes

 

I Got a Monster (2023)

I Got a Monster

6.5

executive producer

2023

 

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'The Facts of Life' and 'Diff'rent Strokes' (2021)

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'The Facts of Life' and 'Diff'rent Strokes'

7.8

TV Special

executive producer

2021

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

executive producer

2021

1 episode

 

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021)

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It

7.7

executive producer

2021

 

Rita Moreno, Justina Machado, Stephen Tobolowsky, Todd Grinnell, Isabella Gomez, and Marcel Ruiz in One Day at a Time (2017)

One Day at a Time

8.2

TV Series

executive producer

2017–2020

46 episodes

 

Christian Vazquez and Armando Espitia in I Carry You with Me (2020)

I Carry You with Me

6.7

executive producer

2020

 

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times' (2019)

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times'

7.5

TV Special

executive producer

2019

 

Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Ike Barinholtz, and Ellie Kemper in Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons' (2019)

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons'

7.7

TV Special

executive producer

2019

 

Christopher Lloyd, Hector Elizondo, Beth Lacke, Adrian Martinez, Holland Taylor, and Stacey Yen in Guess Who Died (2018)

Guess Who Died

7.4

TV Movie

executive producer

2018

 

Norman Lear, Rosario Dawson, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Poehler, Peter Sarsgaard, Jesse Williams, Common, and America Ferrera in America Divided (2016)

America Divided

5.0

TV Series

executive producer

2018

4 episodes

 

The Photographs of Your Junk (Will Be Publicized!) (2011)

The Photographs of Your Junk (Will Be Publicized!)

Short

executive producer

2011

 

El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise of Juan Frances (2008)

El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise of Juan Frances

6.8

executive producer

2008

 

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007)

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

8.4

executive producer

2007

 

Declaration of Independence (2003)

Declaration of Independence

6.7

Video

co-executive producer

2003

 

Independence Day 2001

5.5

TV Movie

segment producer

2001

 

Maggie Bloom

TV Movie

executive producer

2000

 

Way Past Cool (2000)

Way Past Cool

6.3

executive producer

2000

 

The Thing in Bob's Garage

executive producer

1998

 

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

Those Were the Days

7.6

TV Movie

executive producer

1998

 

Channel Umptee-3 (1997)

Channel Umptee-3

6.7

TV Series

executive producer

1997

1 episode

 

Maura Tierney, John Amos, Lynnie Godfrey, and T.E. Russell in 704 Hauser (1994)

704 Hauser

4.8

TV Mini Series

executive producer

1994

2 episodes

 

Robin Bartlett, John Forsythe, David Hyde Pierce, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Valerie Mahaffey, and Holland Taylor in The Powers That Be (1992)

The Powers That Be

8.3

TV Series

executive producer

1992–1993

21 episodes

 

Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

Fried Green Tomatoes

7.7

executive producer

1991

 

Sunday Dinner

5.1

TV Series

executive producer

1991

6 episodes

 

All in the Family: 20th Anniversary Special

9.1

TV Movie

executive producer

1991

 

Marla Gibbs and Jackée Harry in 227 (1985)

227

6.7

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1985–1990

116 episodes

 

Nancy McKeon, Kim Fields, Mindy Cohn, Charlotte Rae, and Lisa Whelchel in The Facts of Life (1979)

The Facts of Life

6.8

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1979–1988

201 episodes

 

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Princess Bride

8.0

executive producer

1987

 

Erin Gray, Ricky Schroder, and Joel Higgins in Silver Spoons (1982)

Silver Spoons

6.1

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1982–1987

116 episodes

 

Marla Gibbs, Paul Benedict, Franklin Cover, Sherman Hemsley, Roxie Roker, Isabel Sanford, and Berlinda Tolbert in The Jeffersons (1975)

The Jeffersons

7.5

TV Series

executive producer

1975–1985

253 episodes

 

Heartsounds (1984)

Heartsounds

7.2

TV Movie

executive producer

1984

 

P.O.P.

5.6

TV Movie

executive producer

1984

 

Don Amendolia, Randee Heller, Lila Kaye, Evan Richards, and Richard Yniguez in Mama Malone (1984)

Mama Malone

6.5

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1984

13 episodes

 

Valerie Bertinelli, Bonnie Franklin, Pat Harrington Jr., and Mackenzie Phillips in One Day at a Time (1975)

One Day at a Time

6.6

TV Series

executive producer

1975–1984

209 episodes

 

Good Evening, He Lied

TV Movie

executive producer

1984

 

a.k.a. Pablo (1984)

a.k.a. Pablo

6.2

TV Series

executive producer

1984

2 episodes

 

Gloria

4.6

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1982–1983

22 episodes

 

Martin Balsam, Carroll O'Connor, Danielle Brisebois, and Jean Stapleton in Archie Bunker's Place (1979)

Archie Bunker's Place

6.3

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1979–1983

97 episodes

 

Jami Gertz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Merritt Butrick, Jon Caliri, John Femia, Amy Linker, Tracy Nelson, and Claudette Wells in Square Pegs (1982)

Square Pegs

7.3

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1982–1983

20 episodes

 

I Love Liberty

6.1

TV Special

executive producer

1982

 

Michael J. Fox, Bill Duke, and Beeson Carroll in Palmerstown, U.S.A. (1980)

Palmerstown, U.S.A.

7.3

TV Series

co-executive producer

executive producer

1980–1981

17 episodes

 

The Baxters (1979)

The Baxters

5.0

TV Series

executive producer

1979

1 episode

 

Mr. Dugan

TV Series

executive producer

1979

 

Janet Jackson, Johnny Brown, Ralph Carter, Ja'net DuBois, Ben Powers, Esther Rolle, BernNadette Stanis, and Jimmie 'JJ' Walker in Good Times (1974)

Good Times

7.4

TV Series

executive producer

1974–1979

133 episodes

 

Hanging In

TV Series

executive producer

1979

1 episode

 

Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor, and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

All in the Family

8.4

TV Series

executive producer

producer

1971–1979

207 episodes

 

King of the Road

TV Movie

executive producer

1978

 

Bea Arthur in Maude (1972)

Maude

7.3

TV Series

executive producer

1972–1978

141 episodes

 

The Nancy Walker Show (1976)

The Nancy Walker Show

6.6

TV Series

executive producer

1976–1977

11 episodes

 

The Little Rascals

7.8

TV Movie

executive producer

1977

 

Forever Fernwood (1977)

Forever Fernwood

7.5

TV Series

executive producer

1977

 

Gabriel Dell, Greg Evigan, Priscilla Lopez, Paul Shaffer, and Nedra Volz in A Year at the Top (1977)

A Year at the Top

7.5

TV Series

executive producer

1977

 

All That Glitters (1977)

All That Glitters

8.5

TV Series

executive producer

1977

1 episode

 

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976)

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

7.9

TV Series

executive producer

1976–1977

325 episodes

 

Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson in Sanford and Son (1972)

Sanford and Son

7.9

TV Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1972–1977

135 episodes

 

Whitman Mayo in Grady (1975)

Grady

6.4

TV Mini Series

executive producer (uncredited)

1975–1976

10 episodes

 

Three to Get Ready

TV Movie

executive producer

1975

 

James Cromwell, Conchata Ferrell, Lee Bergere, Henry Calvert, Al Freeman Jr., Stan Gottlieb, Gloria LeRoy, Jeannie Linero, Richard Masur, and Robin Wilson in Hot l Baltimore (1975)

Hot l Baltimore

7.8

TV Series

executive producer

1975

13 episodes

 

Robert Young and the Family

TV Special

producer

1971

 

Cold Turkey (1971)

Cold Turkey

6.6

producer (produced by)

1971

 

Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

Start the Revolution Without Me

6.4

executive producer

1970

 

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

Justice for All

7.7

TV Movie

executive producer

1968

 

The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)

The Night They Raided Minsky's

6.0

producer

1968

 

Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke in Divorce American Style (1967)

Divorce American Style

6.3

producer

1967

 

ABC Stage 67 (1966)

ABC Stage 67

7.4

TV Series

executive producer

1966

1 episode

 

Steptoe and Son

TV Movie

producer

1965

 

Barnaby

8.5

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

Never Too Late (1965)

Never Too Late

6.5

producer (produced by)

1965

 

Frank Sinatra in Come Blow Your Horn (1963)

Come Blow Your Horn

6.0

producer

1963

 

The Andy Williams Show (1962)

The Andy Williams Show

7.4

TV Series

executive producer

1962–1963

3 episodes

 

The Andy Williams Special

7.0

TV Special

producer

1962

 

Henry Fonda and the Family

7.4

TV Special

producer

1962

 

The Danny Kaye Special

TV Special

producer

1961

 

Ronald Reagan in General Electric Theater (1953)

General Electric Theater

6.9

TV Series

producer

1961

1 episode

 

Bobby Darin and Friends (1961)

Bobby Darin and Friends

7.9

TV Special

producer

1961

 

The Martha Raye Show (1954)

The Martha Raye Show

6.8

TV Series

producer

1954–1956

18 episodes

 

Writer

Rita Moreno, Justina Machado, Stephen Tobolowsky, Todd Grinnell, Isabella Gomez, and Marcel Ruiz in One Day at a Time (2017)

One Day at a Time

8.2

TV Series

original series developed by

2017–2020

46 episodes

 

The 40th Annual Media Access Awards (2019)

The 40th Annual Media Access Awards

TV Special

created by (creator)

2019

 

Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Ike Barinholtz, and Ellie Kemper in Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons' (2019)

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons'

7.7

TV Special

Writer

2019

 

Christopher Lloyd, Hector Elizondo, Beth Lacke, Adrian Martinez, Holland Taylor, and Stacey Yen in Guess Who Died (2018)

Guess Who Died

7.4

TV Movie

created by (creator)

2018

 

Simon Cowell in The 2018 Media Access Awards (2018)

The 2018 Media Access Awards

TV Special

created by (creator)

2018

 

Dave Chappelle and Joe Passaro in Chappelle's Show (2003)

Chappelle's Show

8.8

TV Series

Writer

2003–2006

33 episodes

 

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

Those Were the Days

7.6

TV Movie

written by

1998

 

Channel Umptee-3 (1997)

Channel Umptee-3

6.7

TV Series

developer (creator)

1997

1 episode

 

Maura Tierney, John Amos, Lynnie Godfrey, and T.E. Russell in 704 Hauser (1994)

704 Hauser

4.8

TV Mini Series

created by

story by

teleplay by (creator)

1994

6 episodes

 

Sunday Dinner

5.1

TV Series

created by

written by (creator)

1991

6 episodes

 

Henri Garcin, Jean-Marc Thibault, Rosy Varte, and Marthe Villalonga in Maguy (1985)

Maguy

4.8

TV Series

sitcom Maude

1985

 

Marla Gibbs, Paul Benedict, Franklin Cover, Sherman Hemsley, Roxie Roker, Isabel Sanford, and Berlinda Tolbert in The Jeffersons (1975)

The Jeffersons

7.5

TV Series

developed by (creator)

1975–1985

253 episodes

 

P.O.P.

5.6

TV Movie

Writer

1984

 

Valerie Bertinelli, Bonnie Franklin, Pat Harrington Jr., and Mackenzie Phillips in One Day at a Time (1975)

One Day at a Time

6.6

TV Series

developed by (creator)

1975–1984

209 episodes

 

a.k.a. Pablo (1984)

a.k.a. Pablo

6.2

TV Series

created by

creator

written by

1984

6 episodes

 

I Love Liberty

6.1

TV Special

Writer

1982

 

Janet Jackson, Johnny Brown, Ralph Carter, Ja'net DuBois, Ben Powers, Esther Rolle, BernNadette Stanis, and Jimmie 'JJ' Walker in Good Times (1974)

Good Times

7.4

TV Series

developed by (creator)

1974–1979

133 episodes

 

Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor, and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

All in the Family

8.4

TV Series

developed by

written by

story by (creator) ...

1971–1979

207 episodes

 

Apple Pie (1978)

Apple Pie

6.9

TV Series

creator

1978

 

In the Beginning (1978)

In the Beginning

6.1

TV Series

developed by (creator)

1978

1 episode

 

America 2-Night (1978)

America 2-Night

8.4

TV Series

created by (creator)

1978

2 episodes

 

Bea Arthur in Maude (1972)

Maude

7.3

TV Series

created by (creator)

1972–1978

141 episodes

 

LaWanda Page and Teddy Wilson in Sanford Arms (1977)

Sanford Arms

5.7

TV Series

developed by (creator, uncredited)

1977

8 episodes

 

The Little Rascals

7.8

TV Movie

Writer

1977

 

Martin Mull and Fred Willard in Fernwood Tonight (1977)

Fernwood Tonight

8.6

TV Series

created by

creator

writer

1977

49 episodes

 

All That Glitters (1977)

All That Glitters

8.5

TV Series

created by

developed by (creator)

1977

65 episodes

 

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976)

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

7.9

TV Series

developed by

created by (creator)

1976–1977

325 episodes

 

Richard Crenna and Bernadette Peters in All's Fair (1976)

All's Fair

7.0

TV Series

developed by (creator)

1976–1977

24 episodes

 

Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson in Sanford and Son (1972)

Sanford and Son

7.9

TV Series

developed by (creator, uncredited)

1972–1977

135 episodes

 

Geraldine Brooks and James Coco in The Dumplings (1976)

The Dumplings

6.9

TV Series

developed with

1976

10 episodes

 

Three to Get Ready

TV Movie

developed by (creator)

1975

 

Cold Turkey (1971)

Cold Turkey

6.6

screen story by

screenplay by

1971

 

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

Justice for All

7.7

TV Movie

written by

1968

 

The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)

The Night They Raided Minsky's

6.0

screenplay

1968

 

Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke in Divorce American Style (1967)

Divorce American Style

6.3

screenplay

1967

 

ABC Stage 67 (1966)

ABC Stage 67

7.4

TV Series

Writer

1966

1 episode

 

Frank Sinatra in Come Blow Your Horn (1963)

Come Blow Your Horn

6.0

screenplay

1963

 

The Andy Williams Special

7.0

TV Special

Writer

1962

 

Henry Fonda and the Family

7.4

TV Special

written by

1962

 

The Danny Kaye Special

TV Special

written by

1961

 

Henry Fonda in The Deputy (1959)

The Deputy

6.9

TV Series

created by

written by (creator)

1959–1961

76 episodes

 

Bobby Darin and Friends (1961)

Bobby Darin and Friends

7.9

TV Special

written by

1961

 

The George Gobel Show (1954)

The George Gobel Show

7.5

TV Series

writer

1958–1959

8 episodes

 

The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (1956)

The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show

7.7

TV Series

writer

1957–1958

4 episodes

 

The Martha Raye Show (1954)

The Martha Raye Show

6.8

TV Series

writer

1954–1956

4 episodes

 

The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950)

The Colgate Comedy Hour

7.8

TV Series

writer

written by

co-writer

1950–1953

12 episodes

 

Carmen Miranda, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, and Lizabeth Scott in Scared Stiff (1953)

Scared Stiff

6.4

additional dialogue

1953

 

Ford Star Revue

6.6

TV Series

Writer

1951

2 episodes

 

All Star Revue (1950)

All Star Revue

8.3

TV Series

Writer

1950

1 episode

 

Production Manager

Bea Arthur in Maude (1972)

Maude

7.3

TV Series

production supervisor

1974–1978

77 episodes

 

Janet Jackson, Johnny Brown, Ralph Carter, Ja'net DuBois, Ben Powers, Esther Rolle, BernNadette Stanis, and Jimmie 'JJ' Walker in Good Times (1974)

Good Times

7.4

TV Series

production supervisor

1975–1978

72 episodes

 

Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor, and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)

All in the Family

8.4

TV Series

production supervisor

1974–1978

95 episodes

 

Marla Gibbs, Paul Benedict, Franklin Cover, Sherman Hemsley, Roxie Roker, Isabel Sanford, and Berlinda Tolbert in The Jeffersons (1975)

The Jeffersons

7.5

TV Series

production supervisor

1975–1978

86 episodes

 

Forever Fernwood (1977)

Forever Fernwood

7.5

TV Series

production supervisor

1977

 

All That Glitters (1977)

All That Glitters

8.5

TV Series

production supervisor

1977

 

Richard Crenna and Bernadette Peters in All's Fair (1976)

All's Fair

7.0

TV Series

production supervisor

1976–1977

5 episodes

 

The Nancy Walker Show (1976)

The Nancy Walker Show

6.6

TV Series

production supervisor

1976

 

Geraldine Brooks and James Coco in The Dumplings (1976)

The Dumplings

6.9

TV Series

production supervisor

1976

 

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976)

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

7.9

TV Series

production supervisor

1976

 

Whitman Mayo in Grady (1975)

Grady

6.4

TV Mini Series

production supervisor

1975

 

James Cromwell, Conchata Ferrell, Lee Bergere, Henry Calvert, Al Freeman Jr., Stan Gottlieb, Gloria LeRoy, Jeannie Linero, Richard Masur, and Robin Wilson in Hot l Baltimore (1975)

Hot l Baltimore

7.8

TV Series

production supervisor

1975