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George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He was a writer and producer for The X-Files and was the co-creator of its spin-off The Lone Gunmen.
Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have received widespread critical acclaim, with Gilligan winning two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards and Producers Guild of America Awards, one Directors Guild of America Award and a BAFTA. Outside of television, he co-wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film Hancock.
Gilligan was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Gail, a grade school teacher, and George Vincent Gilligan Sr., an insurance claims adjuster. His parents divorced in 1974 and he and his younger brother, Patrick, were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County, and attended the laboratory school run by Longwood College. Growing up, Gilligan became best friends with future film editor and film title designer Angus Wall. His interest in film began when Wall's mother, Jackie, who also taught alongside Gilligan's mother, would lend her Super 8 film cameras to him. He used the camera to make science fiction films with Patrick. One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck, starring his brother in the lead role. One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia.
Jackie would take Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and drop them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, and encourage both of them to pursue a career in the arts. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Jackie. She was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration," he recalls. Gilligan was recognized for his talents and creativity at an early age. George Sr. described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination". He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television. Gilligan won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend high school.
After graduating from Lloyd C. Bird High School in 1985, Gilligan went on to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production. While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries; Gilligan received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for the screenplay, which was later turned into a film. One of the judges of the competition was Mark Johnson, a film producer. He was impressed by Gilligan, saying he "was the most imaginative writer I'd ever read".Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul- Producer
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Writer/Director Peter Gould was born and raised in the Chelsea neighborhood of Lower Manhattan where he was expelled from a number of tony, non-conformist private schools. After graduating with a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College, Peter became a fixture on the New York Indie scene, working in every conceivable job on films ranging from the retro punk angst of Scott and Beth B. to the joyous exploitation of Troma ("The Toxic Avenger"). Finally landing in the semi-respectable world of television commercials, Peter quickly decided that he wanted to make films of his own. Moving west to the USC Graduate Production program, Peter devoted himself to writing and directing. Peter's memories of unhappy prep school experiences, Luis Buñuel movies and an abiding interest in women's feet percolated through his unconscious: the result was the short film script DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is the story of a self-hating foot-fetishist who works as a department store trainee. The hero is forced to confront his worst fears and his greatest desires when he's assigned to ladies' shoes. Clearly, this was a film that Peter was destined to make since one of his earliest memories is of spying on his first grade teacher's toes during reading circle. Needless to say, Peter was kicked out of second grade. Through blood, sweat and some clever political maneuvering, Peter managed to get the unusual film concept past a skeptical USC faculty committee and selected out of a pool of several hundred scripts to be one of the year's major graduate productions. Peter was also granted the then-rare privilege of directing his own script. The finished film garnered a shelf-full of awards including the Nissan Focus Award and the Cine Golden Eagle. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS "...displays a delicious sense of dark humor... painfully funny!" Peter and his film were selected to represent the university at the CILECT Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, where the film won the Audience Award and was given the unique privilege of being both screened on Czech television and satirized in other student films. Additionally, Dirty Little Secrets won the Hiroshima International Film Festival and was featured on Entertainment Tonight. In the wake of all this attention, Peter was now officially "flavor of the month", complete with dueling talent agencies competing to represent him and an appearance in PREMIERE magazine. Peter was deluged with every low-budget low-concept T & A script in Hollywood. Dissatisfied with the quality of the material, Peter returned to screenwriting, turning out a series of highly-regarded, eccentric scripts. Peter's credits as a screenwriter include DOUBLE DRAGON, a $20 million action film that set off the video-game movie trend. He has also directed music videos and wrote and directed a best-selling home video for children. For the past five years, he has taught film production in the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at the U.S.C. School of Cinema-Television. He has also taught at the Art Center in Pasadena. Currently, Peter is preparing to direct his first feature film, a dark, quirky comedy that is scheduled to shoot in early 1997.Better Call Saul- Producer
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Born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in New Jersey, David Chase (born David DeCesare) dreamed of being a star drummer in a rock band! He spent many years playing drums and bass trying to be part of a successful rock band in the 1960s East Coast music scene. He also loved movies, such as The Public Enemy (1931) with James Cagney and TV shows like The Untouchables (1959) with Robert Stack. When not making music, he watched 1960s' Hollywood and foreign films avidly. After his music career ended, he got the inspiration to buy a movie camera and make his own movies. He studied at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and later the graduate film program at Stanford University. He began writing for network TV drama programs in the early 1970s. He eventually became a writer and producer on the classic NBC detective show The Rockford Files (1974) with James Garner. While on "Rockford", he penned many memorable episodes and pieces of dialog. He won his first Emmy in 1978, the year "Rockford" won the award for Best Dramatic Series. Many biographies incorrectly state that Chase won his first Emmy for writing the acclaimed TV movie, Off the Minnesota Strip (1980). Although it is a sensitive and well observed story about a young runaway trying to make sense of her life after being returned to her Midwestern family from a life of prostitution in New York City, Chase actually won his second Emmy (and a Writer's Guild Award) for that project. He then spent the 1980s and early 1990s getting paid for writing various TV scripts while writing feature film projects that never got produced. He also began directing his TV scripts whenever possible. He often told people stories about the troubled relationship he shared back in New Jersey with his mother. Encouraged to write about it, he found a way to combine a story about his mother with a mob story and a story about psychotherapy, which Chase had also began during this time. This intersection of ideas and themes led Chase to write the landmark pilot script to a show that the Fox network developed, then passed on shooting. HBO then decided to roll the dice with Chase on this odd mixture of mother/son conflict, mobster danger and insecurities about psychological therapy. The result: The Sopranos (1999). Everybody connected with the project thought they would film a pilot episode, it would not go to series and that would be that. It has since gone on to become one of the most successful shows to ever come out of a cable network. Chase and his crew have collected Emmy, Golden Globe, Writer's Guild and Director's Guild Awards for the show. In terms of impact and subject matter, it has been compared to The Godfather (1972). Chase vows to get his feature film projects off the ground, as soon as "The Sopranos" ends its run.The Sopranos- Producer
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Terence Winter was born on 2 October 1960 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Sopranos (1999), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Boardwalk Empire (2010). He is married to Rachel Winter. They have two children.Boardwalk Empire- Producer
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Matthew Weiner was born on 29 June 1965 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Mad Men (2007), The Sopranos (1999) and The Romanoffs (2018). He has been married to Linda Brettler since January 1991. They have four children.Mad Men- Producer
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David Benioff was born on 25 September 1970 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Game of Thrones (2011), The Kite Runner (2007) and 25th Hour (2002). He has been married to Amanda Peet since 30 September 2006. They have three children.Game of Thrones, 3 Body Problem- Producer
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D.B. Weiss was born on 23 April 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Game of Thrones (2011), 3 Body Problem (2024) and Metal Lords (2022). He is married to Andrea Troyer.Game of Thrones, 3 Body Problem- Writer
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David Kelley might be described as living the American Dream, 1990s' style: write a screenplay, move to Hollywood, make millions and marry a movie star. A former Boston lawyer, in the last decade, he switched careers to become a successful television producer whose shows are recognized for their quality as well as receiving top ratings. David Kelley was born in 1956 and is originally from Maine. He attended Princeton University and Boston University Law School. He married actress Michelle Pfeiffer in November 1993. They have two children: Claudia Rose Kelley, born in March 1993, who was adopted by Ms. Pfeiffer eight months before their marriage, and John Henry, born in August 1994. Claudia Rose Kelley was christened and given Mr. Kelley's name at the couple's wedding ceremony. Mr. Kelley was an associate at Fine & Ambrogne in 1983 when he wrote a film script based on some of his legal experiences. Through a family friend, he got the script optioned and acquired an agent in 1986. It was produced in 1987, as a film titled From the Hip (1987), starring Judd Nelson, Elizabeth Perkins, and John Hurt. At the same time, producers Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher (creators of the successful police drama Hill Street Blues (1981)) were planning a new series set in a law firm, and looking for writers with legal backgrounds. They saw Mr. Kelley's script and invited him to Los Angeles to discuss writing a single script for L.A. Law (1986). The meeting was so successful that Mr. Kelley joined the show's staff as a story editor. The next year, he became executive story editor, and after Terry Fisher left the show, he became the supervising producer. Steven Bochco left L.A. Law (1986) after the third season, and Mr. Kelley took over as executive producer, while continuing to write many of the scripts himself. Mr. Kelley has since produced more critically acclaimed and successful shows. He served as creative consultant on Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), which was produced by Steven Bochco, and as executive producer and writer for Picket Fences (1992). He is the executive producer of Chicago Hope (1994). He is part of the television production division of Twentieth Century Fox, which has been owned by Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, The News Corporation Ltd., since 1985.Doogie Howser M.D., Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, The Practice, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies, Boston Public, Mr. Mercedes, The Undoing, The Lincoln Lawyer, Nine Perfect Strangers, Anatomy of a Scandal- Writer
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Attended Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) as a playwriting major. Barbara Bosson (his second wife), Michael Tucker, Bruce Weitz and Charles Haid were classmates; he and Tucker drove cross-country to Hollywood for full-time jobs at Universal, where Bochco would remain for 12 years.
In 1978, he moved to MTM Enterprises, who after several attempts gave him carte Blanche to create a show similar to Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) (Hill Street Blues (1981)). In 1985, MTM fired him, in part for his inability to keep HSB on budget. After creating L.A. Law (1986) and Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989) for NBC, he struck a $15M deal with ABC in 1987 to create 10 series pilots over 10 years.Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser M.D., Murder One- Writer
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David Simon was born on 13 May 1960 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Wire (2002), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) and The Corner (2000). He has been married to Laura Lippman since 3 October 2006. They have one child.The Wire, The Deuce, We Own This City- Producer
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Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990). He went on to write and produce Regarding Henry (1991) and Forever Young (1992). He also co-wrote Gone Fishin' (1997) with Mazursky. Along with other Sarah Lawrence alumni, he experimented with computer animation and was contracted to develop pre-production animation for Shrek (2001).
Abrams worked on the screenplay for Armageddon (1998) and co-created (as well as composing the opening theme of) Felicity (1998), which ran for four seasons. He founded the production company Bad Robot in 2001 with Bryan Burk. He created and executive-produced Alias (2001) and Lost (2004), composing the theme music for both, and co-writing episodes of "Lost". He also co-wrote and produced thriller Joy Ride (2001). He made his feature directing debut with Mission: Impossible III (2006), reinvigorating the series. He produced the hit mystery film Cloverfield (2008) and co-created Fringe (2008).
He directed the Star Trek (2009) reboot, proving successful with fans and newcomers to the franchise. He next directed Super 8 (2011), co-produced by Steven Spielberg and produced Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011). He returned to direct the follow-up to his reboot, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Disney and Lucasfilm announced J.J. as their choice for director of the first episode in the new 'Star Wars' trilogy, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). He initially resisted, as he didn't want to travel away from his family to London, but Kathleen Kennedy convinced him that his voice would be the best to reinvigorate this franchise, as he had done with two others before. He also produced Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and Star Trek Beyond (2016), and executive-produced Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). When it was announced that Colin Trevorrow would no longer direct Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019), it was announced that J.J. would return to complete the trilogy he started.Lost, Felicity, Alias, Fringe- Producer
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Damon Lindelof was born on 24 April 1973 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Lost (2004), The Leftovers (2014) and Watchmen (2019). He has been married to Heidi Fugeman since 28 May 2005. They have one child.Lost, The Leftovers, Watchmen, Mrs. Davis- Producer
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Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was raised in New York and was educated at Riverdale Country School, where his mother also taught. He also attended Winchester College in England for two years, before graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan University.
After relocating to Los Angeles, Whedon landed his first TV writing job on "Roseanne", and moved on to script a season of "Parenthood". He then developed a film script which went on to become Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). Whedon was very unhappy with the final film - his original script was extensively re-written and made lighter in tone. After this he earned screenwriting credits on such high profile productions as Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Toy Story (1995), for which he was Oscar nominated. He also worked as a 'script doctor' on various features, notably Speed (1994).
In 1997, Whedon had the opportunity to resurrect his character Buffy in a television series on The WB Network. This time, as showrunner and executive producer, he retained full artistic control. The series, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a popular and critical hit, which ran for several seasons, the last two on UPN. Whedon also produced a spin-off series, "Angel", which was also successful. A foray in to sci-fi television followed with "Firefly", which developed a cult following, but did not stay on air long. It did find an audience on DVD and through re-runs, and a spin-off feature film Serenity (2005) was released in 2005.
Other projects have included comic book writing, the sci-fi drama "Dollhouse" and the screenplay for Marvel blockbuster The Avengers (2012).Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.- Writer
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David Crane was born on 13 August 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Friends (1994), Dream On (1990) and Episodes (2011).Friends, Episodes- Writer
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Marta Kauffman was born on 21 September 1956 in Broomall, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Friends (1994), Dream On (1990) and Grace and Frankie (2015). She was previously married to Michael Skloff.Friends, Grace and Frankie- Writer
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Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 - July 19, 2016) was an American actor and filmmaker. He started his career in the 1960s writing for The Lucy Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple for television in 1970. He gained fame for creating Happy Days (1974-1984), Laverne and Shirley (1976-1983), and Mork and Mindy (1978-1982). He is also known for directing Overboard (1987), Beaches (1988), Pretty Woman (1990), Runaway Bride (1999), and the family films The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). He also directed the romantic comedy ensemble films Valentine's Day (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), and Mother's Day (2016).Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley- Producer
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Norman Lear enjoyed a long career in television and film, political and social activism, and philanthropy.
Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear flew 52 combat missions over Europe in World War II before beginning his television career. His classic shows of the 1970s and '80s - All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, among others - collectively reached as many as 120 million viewers per week and are said to have transformed the American cultural landscape, bringing the social and political issues of the day into American living rooms for the first time. With the rise of the radical religious right, Lear put his career on hold in 1980 to found People For the American Way, the nonprofit organization that remains a relevant and effective force defending all aspects of the First Amendment.
Lear was among the first seven television pioneers inducted in 1984 into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. In 1999, President Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts, noting that "Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it." His memoir, Even This I Get to Experience, was published in 2014, and the 2016 documentary Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You received an Emmy nomination as the representative program for the PBS American Masters series. In 2017, Lear received a Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award and was a Kennedy Center Honoree.
He was the father of six, the grandfather of four, and the husband of Lyn Davis Lear.All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude- Writer
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Carl Reiner is a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his album "The 2,000 Year Old Man", based on his comedy routine with Mel Brooks.
Reiner was born in The Bronx, to Bessie (Mathias) and Irving Reiner, a watchmaker. His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant and his mother was a Romanian Jewish immigrant. At the age of sixteen, while working as a sewing machine repairman, he attended a dramatic workshop sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The direction of his life was set.
In the 1970s, some sources claimed that Reiner made his movie debut in New Faces of 1937 (1937), but that is unlikely as he would have only been fifteen years old at the time. (the movie shares the same plot as his erstwhile partner Mel Brooks' classic The Producers (1967), with a crooked producer planning to fleece his "angels" by producing a flop and absconding with the money). He didn't appear on screen, silver or small, until he made his television debut in 1948 in the short-lived television series, The Fashion Story (1948), then became a regular, the following year, on The Fifty-Fourth Street Revue (1949), another television series with a brief life.
Reiner made his Broadway debut in 1949 in the musical "Inside U.S.A.", a hit that ran for 399 performances. His next Broadway show, the musical revue "Alive and Kicking" (1950) was a flop, lasting just 43 performances. Max Liebman, the producer/director/writer/composer, had been called in to provide additional material after the show's troubled six week out-of-town preview in Boston. It didn't help -- the show closed after six weeks on Broadway -- but an important contact had been made.
Leibman was a producer-director on Your Show of Shows (1950), one of the great television series, and he hired Reiner to appear on the show in the middle of its first season. Reiner's first gig on the revue-like show was interviewing The Professor, a character played by Sid Caesar. He became central to the comedy portions of the show and, in 1953, he racked up the first of six Emmy Award nominations for acting. (In all, he was nominated for an Emmy Award a total of 13 times). When, in 1954, "Your Show of Shows" was split up by the network into its constituent parts, Reiner continued on with Sid in Caesar's Hour (1954). (Imogene Coca was given her own show, which lasted one season, and Leibman was allowed to produce specials).
"Your Show or Shows" had been a Broadway-style revue, featuring skits such as dancing (including a young Bob Fosse) whereas "Caesar's Hour" was pure comedy. "Your Show of Shows" had had a great cast, another other than Coca, most of the cast, including Reiner, Howard Morris, and Nanette Fabray (who went on to win an Emmy Award) moved over to "Caesar's Hour". In his three seasons on the show, he was nominated three more times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor, winning twice in 1957 and 1958. But it was its stable of comedy writers that was essential to the great success of both "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". In addition to Mel Brooks, the writing staff included Neil Simon, his brother Danny Simon, Larry Gelbart and Mel Tolkin. (There are rumors that the young Woody Allen served as the writing staff's typist).
Reiner had sat in informally with the writers during "Your Show of Shows", but he began writing formally for "Caesar's Hour", having learned his craft from all of the other writers. As a self-described uncredited "writer without portfolio", he was able to leave writers' meetings at 6 P.M., if he wanted to. This gave him the time to work on a semi-autobiographical novel. Published in 1958, Enter Laughing (1967) is about a young man in 1930s New York trying to make it in show business. It was transformed into a play and, eventually, adapted into a movie in 1967, and a musical, many years later.
In 1959, he created the pilot for a television series, "Man of the House", in which he would play a writer, Rob Petrie, who balanced his family life with the demands of working as a writer for a comedy show headlined by an egotistical comedic genius modeled after Sid Caesar (a "benign despot" who lacked social skills, according to Reiner). The series was rooted in his experience on "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". The network didn't pick up the pilot at first, as CBS executives claimed the main character, which was clearly autobiographical on Reiner's part, was too New York, too Jewish and too intellectual. In 1960, Reiner teamed up with Mel Brooks on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), and their routine "The 2000 Year Old Man" was a huge success. Reiner played the straight man to Brooks in the routine, which was spun-off into five comedy albums, bringing them a Grammy Award. They also made an animated television special based on their shtick in 1975.
Though CBS turned down "Man of the House", with the two-time Emmy Award-winning comedian Reiner as the lead, it was still interested in the series. However, they wanted a different actor in the lead role, and the casting of the protagonist came down to Johnny Carson and Dick Van Dyke. Carson was a game show host of no great note at the time, but Van Dyke was in the smash Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie (1963), for which he won a Tony Award. He got the role and another chapter of television history was made, when Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam all were cast in leading roles. Reiner, himself, would eventually play the role of Alan Brady, the abrasive Sid Caesar-like comic convinced of his own genius, in the last few seasons of the series' five-year run.
Another milestone in television comedy, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), brought Reiner five more Emmy Awards, three for writing and two as the producer of the series. In 1966, Reiner and the other principals, including executive producer Sheldon Leonard and Dick Van Dyke, decided to end the series at the height of its popularity and critical acclaim. (The show won Emmy Awards as best show and best comedy in 1965 and 1966, respectively). Twenty-nine years after the show was ended, Reiner reprised the role of Alan Brady on Mad About You (1992), winning his eighth (and so far, last) Emmy Award, this time as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
It was on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that Reiner first became a director. His feature film debut, as a director, was with the film adaptation of the play Joseph Stein had adapted from his 1958 novel, Enter Laughing (1967). His work as a writer-director, with Dick Van Dyke, in creating a Stan Laurel-type character in The Comic (1969) was not a success, but Where's Poppa? (1970) became a cult classic and Oh, God! (1977), with George Burns, and The Jerk (1979), with Steve Martin, were smash hits. The last film he directed was the romantic comedy That Old Feeling (1997).
Reiner's career continued into the 21st century, when most of his contemporaries had retired or passed. He was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2000 and acted in the remake of Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its two sequels. He also appeared as a voice artist in the film Good Boy (2003), and the animated series The Cleveland Show (2009) (he even wrote an episode for the series rooted in his "Your Show of Shows" experience). He was also a regular on the series Hot in Cleveland (2010) (with fellow nonagenarian Betty White), and appeared on an episode of Parks and Recreation (2009) in 2012. His last film role was as the voice of Carl Reineroceros in Toy Story 4 (2019), opposite his old compatriot Mel Brooks.
Carl Reiner died at age 98 of natural causes on June 29, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California.The Dick Van Dyke Show- Writer
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James L. Brooks was born on 9 May 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Broadcast News (1987), As Good as It Gets (1997) and Terms of Endearment (1983). He was previously married to Holly Holmberg Brooks and Marianne Catherine Morrissey.The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Lou Grant, Room 222, Rhoda, The Tracey Ullman Show- Writer
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For the past twenty years, award-winning creator, executive producer and writer Chuck Lorre has conquered the entertainment industry with hit shows like Grace Under Fire (1993), Dharma & Greg (1997), Roseanne (1988) and Cybill (1995) as well as the number 1 comedy on television and four year People's Choice Award winner, Two and a Half Men (2003) and sophomore series The Big Bang Theory (2007). A native of Long Island, Lorre got his start as a guitarist/singer, touring the country and writing several hundred pop songs that, as he puts it, "helped keep him out of the big time" (Debbie Harry's top 40 hit "French Kissin' in the USA" being the lone exception). After more than a decade on the road, Lorre decided to turn his attention to television. He began writing animation scripts for DIC and Marvel Productions, as well as writing and producing the themes and scores for such animated series as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
A spec primetime script soon led to freelance work on the syndicated comedy Charles in Charge (1984) and eventually to a staff job on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads (1987), starring Paul Reiser. Lorre's big break came in 1991, when he became a supervising producer on the ABC/Carsey-Werner hit comedy Roseanne (1988). Over the next two seasons, during which he was upped to co-executive producer, Lorre helped bring the show to the height of its critical and popular acclaim, shattering one sacred cow after another in the process.
Since then, Lorre has dominated network television by single-handedly keeping the multi-camera sitcom alive in creating hit series that generate mass appeal. He continues to break television records with Two and a Half Men (2003) as it is the number one off-network sitcom in syndication for the 2007-2008 season among households, which consistently ranks number one on a weekly basis and is the fastest-growing A-tier sitcom in syndication history since the introduction of barter ratings in the 1988-89 season. During this season, the rebroadcast of the show has delivered more viewers than first-run episodes of nearly every other sitcom. He is also responsible for creating an online buzz when he established the unprecedented idea to illustrate his thoughts by airing messages for a split second on his vanity card at the end of his shows.
In January 2009, Lorre kicked off the New Year when he was honored with the NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award for exhibiting extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming and in evoking the spirit of Brandon Tartikoff's generosity. In February, Lorre was presented with the 2009 Television Showman of the Year Award at the 46th Annual ICG Publicists Awards Ceremony, which recognizes individuals whose creative accomplishments reflect the finest qualities of what has traditionally been defined as showmanship. In March 2009, Lorre was awarded with his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his life-long contribution of both public and peer appreciation that has forever added to the entertainment industry. Lorre will also be presented with the David Angell Humanitarian Award on behalf of the American Screenwriters Association for demonstrating his charitable efforts at the Venice Family Clinic. The David Angell Humanitarian Award is presented to an individual in the entertainment industry who contributes to global well being through their donation of time, expertise, or other support to improve the human condition. This award is an annual reminder of David Angell's legacy of kindness and selflessness, and a celebration of friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry who share those gifts.Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Cybill, Grace Under Fire, Dharma & Greg, Young Sheldon, Mom, The Kominsky Method- Producer
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Born November 9, 1965 in Indianapolis, Indiana, US as Ryan Patrick Murphy, he is an American writer, director, and producer, responsible for creating such hits as Nip/Tuck (2003), Glee (2009) and American Horror Story (2011). His mother, J. Andy Murphy, was a writer and communications worker and his father was a circulation director in the newspaper industry. He has one brother. He attended a Catholic school till the eighth grade and graduated from Warren Central High School. He went on to study journalism at the Indiana University Bloomington, where he was also a member of a vocal ensemble, and went on to intern in the style section of the The Washington Post in 1986. In 1990 he got into screenwriting, but only in 1999 was his first story produced: it was Popular (1999), a teen comedy show, which he co-created with Gina Matthews and which run for two seasons. In 2003 he created Nip/Tuck (2003), which brought him his first Emmy nomination. He won the award six years later, when in 2009 he directed the pilot of his hit series Glee (2009) which he co-created with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk. In 2011 he and Falchuk co-crated another highly popular series, American Horror Story (2011). in 2015 he was awarded the Award for Inspiration from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2018 Murphy signed a five-year $300 million development deal with Netflix. He is a pan equal opportunities activist, both through his movies and television projects which very often focus on the LGBTQ+ community, and as a creator of the Half Initiative, which aims at making Hollywood more inclusive for women and minorities. He's been married to photographer David Miller since 2012. They have three sons, Logan Phineas, Ford, and Griffin Sullivan.American Horror Story, Glee, Nip/Tuck, Feud, Pose, 911, 911: Lone Star, Monster, Hollywood, The Watcher- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Brad Falchuk was born on 1 March 1971 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Glee (2009), American Horror Story (2011) and Pose (2018). He has been married to Gwyneth Paltrow since 29 September 2018. He was previously married to Suzanne Bukinik.American Horror Story, Glee, Pose, 911, 911: Lone Star- Producer
- Writer
- Actress
Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an African-American producer, author and screenwriter. She is known for working on the Britney Spears and Zoe Saldana film Crossroads, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, the Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and the Halle Berry film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. She has three children.Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, Inventing Anna- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Darren Star was born on 25 July 1961 in Potomac, Maryland, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Sex and the City (1998), Emily in Paris (2020) and Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990).Sex and the City, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Emily in Paris, And Just Like That...- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Glen Charles was born on 18 February 1943 in Henderson, Nevada, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Taxi (1978), Cheers (1982) and Pushing Tin (1999).Cheers