Writer, director, and producer Larry Gelbart died of cancer on 11 September 2009. Born 25 February 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, he will be remembered as one of the creators of the television series M*A*S*H, for co-writing the book of the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), and for the film comedy Tootsie. He was nominated for two Academy Awards (for Oh, God! in 1978) and for Tootsie in 1983), a Saturn Award (for Oh, God!, and a Golden Globe (for Tootsie). He won an Emmy in 1974 for Outstanding Comedy Series (for M*A*S*H) and was nominated for 14 more.
M*A*S*H, the television comedy, was based on Robert Altman’s 1970 film of the same name. Gelbart was associated with it for its first four seasons, writing and directing many episodes. The series ran 11 years.
Gelbart broke into Hollywood young. His father, a barber, had moved the family to California in the early 1940s. The elder Gelbart groomed entertainers, and mentioned to Danny Thomas that his son had a knack for humor. Thomas, who was performing on a Fanny Brice radio show, gave him a tryout, and promptly hired him. Gelbart wrote for radio programs for Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, and Jack Paar, and then moved into television, writing for Red Buttons, Sid Caesar, and others.
Other than Oh, God! (which starred John Denver and George Burns), Gelbart’s only genre production was the 2000 Harold Ramis-directed Bedazzled, which starred Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley.
Gelbart’s first Broadway foray was the unsuccessful The Conquering Hero (1961). His first film, co-written with Blake Edwards, was The Notorious Landlady (1962). Gelbart also wrote a collection of essays and reminiscences, called Laughing Matters, which Random House published in 1998.
Gelbart is survived by his wife of 53 years, Patricia Marshall, two children, two stepsons, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.