Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Larry Gelbart(1928-2009)

  • Writer
  • Producer
  • Script and Continuity Department
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Larry Gelbart
US Home Video Trailer from Good Times Entertainment
Play trailer1:21
The Sid Caesar Collection: The Fan Favorites - The Professor and Other Clowns (2001)
1 Video
14 Photos
The gift of provoking laughter came early to Larry Gelbart and has never deserted him. His distinguished career as a writer of comedy reads like a history of the art over the last 40 years. His writing credits date back to the Golden Age of radio, thanks in part to his father. The elder Gelbart was a barber in Beverly Hills who made it a point to tell his clients, such as Danny Thomas, what a funny 15-year-old son he had. As a result of his father's being his unofficial agent, Larry became a professional comedy writer before finishing high school. Shortly after being signed by the William Morris Agency, he joined the writing staff of "Duffy's Tavern," working for the man generally considered to be the hardest taskmaster in radio, Ed Gardner. "Seventy writers went through the mill while I was there," recalls Gelbart. "I was lucky because I was young and everybody wanted me to make good. They were all my godfathers." Gelbart left "Duffy's Tavern," to write for the "Joan Davis Show." While doing that he was called into the Army. He served with Armed Forces Radio Service for one year and 11 days, but it was a most productive period. He wrote for the Army's "Command Performance," while continuing to write for Joan Davis and Jack Paar, who was then a summer replacement for Jack Benny. He then went on to write for Jack Carson and Bob Hope, both on radio and television, and he also contributed to the Red Buttons TV show. In 1953 he joined the staff of TV's Your Show of Shows (1950), writing skits for Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in company with such fellow master wits as Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon. For that series Gelbart won the Sylvania Award and two Emmy Awards. In the 1960s he began writing for the theater. He wrote "My L.A." and "The Conquering Hero," and with Burt Shevelove tried his hand at rewriting Plautus. The result was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," a smash Broadway musical comedy starring Zero Mostel that earned Gelbart and Shevelove a 1962 Tony Award. When "Forum" moved to London, Gelbart and his family went with it. During his nine-year stay there, he wrote the comedy film The Wrong Box (1966), a play called "Jump," and several television scripts. Gelbart came back to Los Angeles to write the television series M*A*S*H (1972) He was responsible for 97 segments of that show, one of television's most literate and entertaining efforts. Four years later he again dipped into the classics and transformed Ben Johnson's "Volpone" into a Broadway success, "Sly Fox," directed by Arthur Penn and starring George C. Scott. Gelbart's screen credits include The Notorious Landlady (1962), Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), Oh, God! (1977), Neighbors (1981), Movie Movie (1978) (directed by Stanley Donen) and Tootsie (1982), which earned him an Academy Award nomination and best screenplay honors from the New York, Los Angeles and National Film Critics organization.
BornFebruary 25, 1928
DiedSeptember 11, 2009(81)
BornFebruary 25, 1928
DiedSeptember 11, 2009(81)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 2 Oscars

Photos14

Larry Gelbart in Television (1988)
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart
Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Larry Gelbart, Danny Simon, Neil Simon, Joseph Stein, Michael Stewart, and Mel Tolkin in Caesar's Writers (1996)
Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Larry Gelbart, Lucille Kallen, Danny Simon, and Mel Tolkin in Your Show of Shows (1950)
Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Larry Gelbart, Joseph Stein, and Mel Tolkin in Your Show of Shows (1950)
Larry Gelbart
James L. Brooks, Judd Apatow, and Larry Gelbart

Known for

Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
Tootsie
7.4
  • Writer
  • 1982
M*A*S*H (1972)
M*A*S*H
8.4
TV Series
  • Writer(creator)
William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan in AfterMASH (1983)
AfterMASH
5.6
TV Series
  • Writer(creator)
Movie Movie (1978)
Movie Movie
6.5
  • Writer
  • 1978

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Writer

  • Antonio Banderas in And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
    And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
  • C-Scam
  • Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser in Bedazzled (2000)
    Bedazzled
  • Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997)
    Weapons of Mass Distraction
  • Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
    Barbarians at the Gate
  • Mastergate (1992)
    Mastergate
  • William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Harry Morgan in AfterMASH (1983)
    AfterMASH
    • (creator)
  • The 57th Annual Academy Awards (1985)
    The 57th Annual Academy Awards
  • Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Michelle Johnson, and Joseph Bologna in Blame It on Rio (1984)
    Blame It on Rio
  • M*A*S*H (1972)
    M*A*S*H
    • (creator) ...
  • Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
    Tootsie
  • The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)
    The 54th Annual Academy Awards
  • John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Cathy Moriarty in Neighbors (1981)
    Neighbors
  • United States
  • David Niven, Burt Reynolds, and Lesley-Anne Down in Rough Cut (1980)
    Rough Cut
    • (as Francis Burns)

Producer

  • Antonio Banderas in And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003)
    And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
  • Corsairs
  • Fast Track (1997)
    Fast Track
  • Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997)
    Weapons of Mass Distraction
  • The 57th Annual Academy Awards (1985)
    The 57th Annual Academy Awards
  • Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Michelle Johnson, and Joseph Bologna in Blame It on Rio (1984)
    Blame It on Rio
  • United States
  • M*A*S*H (1972)
    M*A*S*H
  • Karen (1975)
    Karen
  • If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?
  • Stu Gilliam and Hilly Hicks in Roll Out (1973)
    Roll Out
  • The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine (1971)
    The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine
  • The Wrong Box (1966)
    The Wrong Box

Script and Continuity Department

  • M*A*S*H (1972)
    M*A*S*H
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

The Roy Rogers Collection
Trailer 1:21
The Roy Rogers Collection

Personal details

Edit
    • February 25, 1928
    • Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • September 11, 2009
    • Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(cancer)
    • Patricia MarshallNovember 25, 1956 - September 11, 2009 (his death, 2 children)
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Interviews
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was one of Bob Hope's writers on Hope's USO tours of US military installations around the world.
  • Quotes
    If [Adolf Hitler] is still alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.