| Larry Gelbart |
| Born |
Larry Simon Gelbart
February 25, 1928 (1928-02-25) (age 80)
Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Other name(s) |
Francis Burns, Elsig |
| Occupation |
Author, playwright |
| Years active |
1944–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Marshall
(1956–present) |
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|
Larry Simon Gelbart (born February 25, 1928) is an American comedy writer and playwright with over sixty years of credits.
Biography
Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish immigrants Harry Gelbart ("a barber since his half of a childhood in Latvia" [1]) and Frieda Sturner, born in the farming village of Dombrowa, Poland. Gelbart began as a writer at the age of sixteen for Danny Thomas' radio show during the 1940s and also wrote for Jack Paar and Bob Hope. On 1950s television, he worked for Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, along with the other gifted comedy writers Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Carl Reiner.
Larry Gelbart wrote the long-running Broadway farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim in 1962, and collaborated with Shevelove on the British movie comedy The Wrong Box.
In 1972, Gelbart was one of the main forces behind the creation of the television series M*A*S*H, writing and producing many episodes until leaving after the fourth season.
Gelbart also wrote the screenplays to Oh, God! and Blame it on Rio, and in 1982, cowrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Tootsie.
Gelbart's other Broadway credits include the musical City of Angels, which received an Edgar Award in 1990, and the Iran-contra satire Mastergate, as well as Sly Fox. In the early 1960s, he uttered the now-classic line, "If Hitler is alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical." TV credits include cable TV-movie Barbarians at the Gate. In 1997, Gelbart published his memoir, Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things.[2]
Gelbart is sometimes known as "Francis Burns" in credits. The German translation of the name Gelbbart is "yellow beard."
Gelbart is a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, and is also a regular participant on the alt.tv.mash Usenet newsgroup as 'Elsig'.
References
- ^ Gelbart, Larry (1998). Laughing Matters: On Writing MASH, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things. New York: Random House. ISBN 067942945X.
- ^ Gelbart, Larry (1998). Laughing Matters: On Writing MASH, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things. New York: Random House. ISBN 067942945X.
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Gelbart, Larry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Gelbart, Larry Simon |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
American comedy writer and playwright |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
1928-02-25 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Chicago, Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH |
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| PLACE OF DEATH |
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