Sherwood Schwartz
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| Sherwood Schwartz | |||||||||||
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| Born | Sherwood Charles Schwartz November 14, 1916 Passaic, New Jersey |
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| Occupation | Television producer and screenwriter | ||||||||||
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Sherwood Charles Schwartz (born November 14, 1916) is an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC. On March 7, 2008, Schwartz, still ebullient at ninety-one, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Schwartz's entertainment career came "by accident". He relocated from New York to southern California to pursue a master of science degree in biology. In need of employment, he began writing jokes for Bob Hope's radio program, for which Schwartz's brother, Al Schwartz, worked. Schwartz recalled that Hope "liked my jokes, used them on his show and got big laughs. Then he asked me to join his writing staff. I was faced with a major decision — writing comedy or starving to death while I cured those diseases. I made a quick career change."[2]
He went on to write for Ozzie Nelson's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and other radio shows.
He was a writer on the Armed Forces Radio Network before he got his big break in television
[edit] Filmography
Schwartz went on to create and produce Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver, Alan Hale, and Dawn Wells, and The Brady Bunch with Florence Henderson and Robert Reed. He wrote the theme song for three of his shows: Gilligan's Island (co-wrote), It's About Time, Horton Hears a Who! (TV special), and The Brady Bunch.
Wells and Henderson appeared with Schwartz as he received his Walk of Fame honor.
| Series | Years | Job |
|---|---|---|
| The Bob Hope Show | 1938-1942 | Writer for Radio Version |
| The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet | 1940s | Writer for Radio Version |
| The Alan Young Show | 1940s | Writer for Radio Version |
| I Married Joan | 1952-1955 | Writer |
| The Red Skelton Show | 1956-1962 | Writer |
| My Favorite Martian | 1963 | Script Supervisor |
| Gilligan's Island | 1964-1967 | Writer, Creator, Producer |
| It's About Time | 1966-1967 | Writer, Creator, Producer |
| The Brady Bunch | 1969-1974 | Writer, Creator, Producer |
| Horton Hears a Who! (TV special) | 1970 | Writer, Creator, Producer |
| Dusty's Trail | 1973-1974 | Writer, Creator, Producer |
| Big John, Little John | 1976 | Producer |
| Harper Valley PTA | 1981-1982 | Writer, Producer |
| Together We Stand | 1986-1987 | Writer, Producer |
[edit] Stage productions
On November 10, 2006, his play Rockers opened in Theater West in California.
In 1990, he wrote the play Gilligan's Island: The Musical which is still in production to this day. His son Lloyd, daughter Hope, and son-in-law Laurence Juber worked on the play.
[edit] Unsold pilots
He wrote and Executive Produced these two pilots
- Scamps (1982) - Starring Bob Denver, Dreama Denver, and Joey Lawrence,
- The Invisible Woman (1983) - Starring Bob Denver, Alexa Hamilton, George Gobel, and Harvey Korman
He also was in the works of creating a pilot for Phil Silvers during the 1966-1967 television series called The Help.
[edit] Awards
- Won the 1961 Emmy Award for his writing on The Red Skelton Show.
- Was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his 2004 special "Still Brady After All These Years"
- On March 7, 2008, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[edit] Sherwood Schwartz on TV
During the late 1990s and the 2000s, he has made many appearances on TV talking about his series. He has been on everything from the CBS Evening News and 20/20 to TV Land's Top Ten and A&E's Biography. He also took part of a "Creators" marathon on Nick at Nite in the late 1990s.[3] He was also a guest at the 2004 TV Land Awards.
In 1988 Schwartz appeared on The Late Show with Ross Schafer for a Gilligan's Island reunion. All seven castaways from Gilligan's Island were on the show. This was the last time they were all together on television; Backus, Schafer, Denver, and Hale have since died.
[edit] Personal life
Schwartz was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He is Jewish.[4]
In his 1988 book Inside Gilligan's Island, he mentions he did not get along well with Red Skelton. In his early years as head writer it was in his contract that Schwartz would not have to meet face-to-face with Skelton. He got along well with Bob Hope and named his daughter "Hope" after Bob Hope. He is the father of Lloyd J. Schwartz, creator of The Munsters Today.
[edit] References
- ^ Brady Bunch & Gilligan’s Island Creator Receives Hollywood Walk of Fame Star. TV Series Final (7 March 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
- ^ http://ap.lubbockonline.com/pstories/entertainment/20080307/254918604.shtml
- ^ The Associated Press (2000-07-28). Sitcom producers pick favorites for Nick at Nite 15th anniversary. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
- ^ Bloom, Nate (19 December 2006). The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs. InterfaithFamily.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-19.
[edit] External links
- SherwoodSchwartz.com
- Bio of Sherwood Schwartz
- Sherwood Schwartz at the Internet Movie Database
- Sherwood Schwartz at TV.com
- Signature of Sherwood Schwartz from Here on Gilligan's Isle
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