| |
|---|---|
| Sam Bobrick | |
| Credits | |
| Position | Writer |
| Biographical Information | |
| Birthdate | July 24, 1932 |
| Birthplace | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Death Date | October 11, 2019 (age 87) |
| Death Place | Northridge, California, United States[1] |
Sam Bobrick was a writer on Bewitched. He wrote the fourth season episode, If They Never Met (1968) with Bill Idelson.
Biography[]
Sam Bobrick was an American writer and playwright. He was born on July 24, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois.
Television and Film[]
Bobrick got his first job in the ABC mailroom and wrote for The Ray Bolger Show, Captain Kangaroo and the game show Make Me Laugh early in his career. He penned songs as well. The first one he wrote, "The Girl of My Best Friend," was covered by Elvis Presley in 1960. He also came up with jokes for Groucho Marx. He was on the staff of The Andy Griffith Show, for which he wrote nineteen episodes, and worked on other television comedies including The Flintstones; Gomer Pyle: USMC; Get Smart; Hey, Landlord; Good Morning, World and Bewitched.
The Chicago native received his Emmy nomination in 1968 for his writing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, sharing the honor with Lorenzo Music, Mason Williams and others, and later developed and produced The Paul Lynde Show, starring Bewitched alum Paul Lynde.
Bobrick created Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which ran on the Disney Channel for a season (1988-89) and starred Hayley Mills, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Dustin Diamond. After it was canceled, NBC picked it up, renamed it Saved by the Bell and moved the Indianapolis-set show to Bayside High School in California. Saved by the Bell aired on NBC from 1989-93 and spawned spinoffs and television movies.
For the big screen, Bobrick supplied the story for The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), starring (and directed by) Marty Feldman, and wrote the screenplay for Jimmy the Kid (1982), featuring Gary Coleman.
Stage[]
Bobrick, who also did an uncredited rewrite of The Wiz before its Broadway bow in 1975, quit writing for television in the 1990s to concentrate on the stage.
Bobrick wrote or co-wrote more than forty plays during his career. Four of those, all created with one-time partner Ron Clark (also a Smothers Brothers writer), got to Broadway: Norman, Is That You?, directed by George Abbott and featuring Maureen Stapleton and Martin Huston (it became a Redd Foxx-starring movie); No Hard Feelings, directed by Abe Burrows and starring Eddie Albert and Stockard Channing (it opened and closed on the same night in 1973); Murder at the Howard Johnson's, featuring Tony Roberts; and Wally's Cafe, starring Rita Moreno and James Coco.
In 2011 at age 79, he won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his play The Psychic, which made its world premiere at The Falcon Theater (now the Garry Marshall Theatre) in Burbank.
Death[]
Sam Bobrick died on October 11, 2019, at Northridge Hospital Medical Center after suffering a stroke. He was 87. Survivors included his wife, Julie; children Lori (and her husband, Caleb), Stefanie (Geoff) and Joey (Linda); grandchildren Ariel and Josh; and his "fourth child," Albert the Wonder Pug.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Sam Bobrick on the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on January 10, 2020.
- ↑ Barnes, Mike. "Sam Bobrick, 'Saved by the Bell' Creator, Dies at 87", obituary, The Hollywood Reporter, October 14, 2019. Retrieved on September 20, 2020, edited.