Cinemaretro is reporting the death of television and film producer Mort Abrahams on 28 May 2009 at his home in Studio City, California, after a long illness. Born 26 March 1916 in New York City, his first Hollywood work was as a producer on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet in 1950.
He was also a producer on Tales of Tomorrow (1952-53), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965-66), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and Rhinoceros (1974).
Abrahams also had a writing credit on Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and appeared on-screen in the 1952 Tales of Tomorrow episode “The Window”.
Survivors include his wife and daughter.
In a roundabout way, Mort Abrahams is the reason I’m a science-fiction writer today. I was hugely influence by the PLANET OF THE APES series (the first of which came out when I was eight years old), and its use of science fiction for social commentary. It’s very clear in the documentary BEHIND THE PLANET OF THE APES that Abrams was one of the driving forces in making the first two apes films be socially relevant. I’m saddened by his passing.