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He died of cancer at his home today. He was 81. He was the screenwriter’s screenwriter — an intelligent role model with ascerbic wit who was also kind but candid. That’s a rare combination in Hollywood these days. He was very active in Writers Guild issues, and in fact just recently gave me a support statement for WGAw presidential candidate Elias Davis and his slate of candidates. Gelbart had success on stage, film, and TV. He is best known for works as varied as the big screen hit Tootsie as well as turning Robert Altman’s M.A.S.H. into the long running TV series as producer and writer. He also penned the teleplay for HBO’s very adept adaptation of the financial book Barbarians At The Gate. He also co-wrote the book for the 1962 Broadway musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which was recently revived on The Great White Way. His writing won a slew of Tony and Emmy awards and Oscar nominations (For Tootsie and Oh, God!). “Laughing Matters,” a collection of Mr. Gelbart’s essays and reminiscences, was published by Random House in 1998. Every now and then, Larry would phone me to complain about this mogul or that. (Harvey Weinstein came in for frequent withering criticism by Gelbart because of problems with their projects.) He never feared what Hollywood’s Powers That Be would do to him when he went public with a dispute. Success and self-confidence gave him courage. I adored him for that.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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If he is, then it’s a sad day indeed.
A sad day, indeed.
Without a doubt, the greatest comedy writer of all-time. I recently wrote to ask him what he thought about a new kit that gives you a look into your personal DNA sequence and he said:
“Happily for me, this is one more decision l’ll never have to make.
l would hate to find out at the age of 80 that l’m only going live until l’m 70.
Larry”
TOOTSIE was one of the best comedies ever made, if not the best.
Thank you, Mr. Gelbart. Rest in Peace…
One of the true all time great talents in television.
You will be missed but treasured forever Larry.
R.I.P.
A true inspiration to us comedy writers.
The world’s already a lot less funny without him, Rest In Peace.
An amazing talent, and a good man. He will be missed.
RIP Mr. Gelbart. The world will miss your wit and intelligence.
It’s interesting that Larry Gelbart died a few days after Josh Olson’s screed appeared. Here’s Gelbart: a generous, witty, big-hearted soul who committed himself to writers especially via his work for the WGA. And here’s Olson: a whiny, selfish, arrogant jackass who wrote one over-rated script and feels no one–especially hopeful writers–deserves the precious pearls of his wisdom.
Touche
Zing
Smack
I am speechless. He was a friend and mentor
for 25 years. He was a beautiful person.
What a shame.
He had one hell of a good run, and a talent like his, with its variety and longevity is truly one of a kind.
he was the best… martini toast… see you on the other side…
The standard thing that’s said at times like this is, of course,
“Such a loss.”
A loss for who? Well, certainly for his family no doubt. But other than that, I think its a time for celebration. Because the man gave us, and left us, so much material that will continue on long past this sad day.
I mean, among all of his other accomplishments such as “Oh, God” and “Tootsie”(which he co-wrote), the man developed “M*A*S*H”, the film, into a classic television iconic series who’s final episode is STILL, over twenty years later, THE most watched television event in all of television history.
Not only did he help develop it into a series, he set the tone OF the series in such a way that it could handle the loss of multiple main characters throughout it’s long run. Characters such as Henry Blake and Frank Burns (during his stay). And then later on (after he had moved on), Not only did Radar O’ Reilly leave the series,
it continued on with the introductions of Colonel Sherman Potter, B.J. Hunnicutt, Charles Winchester III.
Naturally, the setting of the series, the Korean War, was ripe for stories about loss. And Gelbart as well as a few dozen other writers that came and went dove into that setting and gave us all a rich, beloved series that lasted 11 years.
I mean, “Oh, God” and “Tootsie” have had their runs, made their money and are now a part of film history. Maybe a few thousand people around the world rent them or some obscure cable station somewhere in the world runs them on a lazy Saturday afternoon or maybe even features them on the dead spot some late, late Friday evening.
But M*A*S*H…. a good solid 27 years AFTER the final episode aired, is STILL running on a television station at any one time each day somewhere in the world.
Loss?
I think not. The man lived a full life and left behind a lasting legacy that will survive for at least the next several generations.
There aren’t alot of writers in the world who can make that claim. And that goes for not only television and film writers, but literary writers as well.
Like Hawkeye, there aren’t many people I salute. But today, I salute you Mr. Gelbart. Thank you.
RIP.
Courageous & hilarious.
The consummate scribe.
He will be greatly missed.
God I loved this guy’s writing. I am going to miss him.
When I became President of 20th I walked on to the Mash stage and asked Larry if there was anything I could do to help on the series, and he came back with just stay out of the way, and I did and the series ran 8 more years Larry had class
If laughter is the best medicine, Larry was a human pharmacy. Previous posts are right: he was generous, funny, kind, nurturing, clever, and funny as hell. He was also a friend.
F’r'instance: For a book I’m writing on a famous director, I called famous actors, producers, composers, editors and, of course, writers who had worked with him. Not surprisingly, Larry was the first to say yes to an interview. Not only did he give of his time and memories, he went through my transcript and corrected it. A free Larry Gelbart polish!
He was “the Dean” — a writer who understood writers. My deepest condolences to Pat and their family. And, of course, to comedy.
A class act…. You won’t see him writing a “Fuck You I. Won’t read your script piece”
The men understood “funny” like no other. Lets not forget his under-rated MOVIE MOVIE which had one of the best exchanges between Art Carney (playing a doctor) and George C. Scott (playing the Broadway producer Spats).
Carney: Spats, you have one month to live.
Scott: 30 day to live?
Carney: Spats, its February
Priceless
I had the good fortune to work with Larry Gelbart editing an essay he wrote for a magazine in which he summed up Hollywood thus: “Where the truth is as stretchable as a limo.”
What a great guy…
The man stood against Hollywood, he wanted to create quality not CRAP.
And he sure did give us quality,i first meet him in the hills well filming MASH. What a gentleman.
RIP Mr Gelbart
RIP Mr. Gelbart. Loved your work.
Really sorry to hear this news, Larry was a relative – his widow Pat is my mother’s cousin – and when he and his family lived in London in the 60s and 70s his son Adam was in my class at school, and our families saw a lot of each other. Larry was one of the nicest people you could hope to meet, and as well as being genuinely funny in the best possible way, was generous and kind to all that knew him.
Sorry, should have said that Pat is my father’s cousin, not mother’s.