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Sam Bobrick | |
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| Born | (1932-07-24)July 24, 1932 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 11, 2019(2019-10-11) (aged 87) Northridge,California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright,screenwriter |
| Genre | Fiction,comedy |
Sam Bobrick (July 24, 1932 – October 11, 2019) was an American author,playwright,television writer, andlyricist.
Bobrick was born to a Jewish family inChicago on July 24, 1932.[1] His father was a storekeeper and his mother worked for the postal service.[2] In 1950 he graduated from Benton Harbor High School in Michigan.[3] After a three-year, nine-month, twenty-seven-day stint in theU.S. Air Force between 1951–1955, Bobrick attended theUniversity of Illinois where he graduated with a degree in journalism.
He began his career writing for the popular children's showCaptain Kangaroo. He also wrote for such shows asThe Andy Griffith Show,Bewitched,The Flintstones,Get Smart,The Kraft Music Hall, andThe Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.[2] He created the short-livedDisney Channel TV seriesGood Morning, Miss Bliss, which was resurrected by NBC as the long-running hit showSaved by the Bell. He won threeWriters Guild of America Awards for his television work and was nominated for an Emmy. He also wrote several movies and later quit writing for film and television in 1990.
Bobrick wrote over 40 plays. His first play,Norman, Is That You?, which he co-wrote withRon Clark, opened on Broadway in the early 1970s.[4] While a flop on Broadway, its West Coast premiere at the Ebony Showcase Theater in Los Angeles ran for seven years (1971-1978).[5] The play also ran for five years in Paris (Pauvre France) and has played in over thirty countries around the world. Bobrick and Clark collaborated on three more Broadway plays,No Hard Feelings,Murder at the Howard Johnson's, andWally's Cafe.
Bobrick's solo works included the plays,Remember Me?Getting Sara Married,Last Chance Romance,Hamlet II (Better Than The Original),New York Water,Passengers andThe Crazy Time. He also wrote a number of mystery plays, among themFlemming, An American Thriller,The Spider Or The Fly,Death In England andA Little Bit Wicked. In 2011, his mystery playThe Psychic won theMystery Writers of America's covetedEdgar Award.
With his wife Julie Stein, he wrote two plays:Lenny's Back, about comedian Lenny Bruce, which was nominated for a Los AngelesOvation Award, andThe Outrageous Adventures of Sheldon & Mrs. Levine, an adaption of their bookSheldon & Mrs. Levine, which is performed worldwide.
Bobrick co-wrote the songThe Girl of My Best Friend withBeverly Ross which was recorded byElvis Presley and many other recording artists throughout the years, includingBryan Ferry. Another song,It Will Never Be Over For Me was recorded by the iconicLos Lobos. He also wrote two satirical albums forMad,Mad Twists Rock n Roll andFink Along With Mad. His most recent music endeavor was a CD entitled "Totally Twisted Country" that he co-wrote with his son Joey Bobrick for the bandThe Cow Pies.
Bobrick was a member of theStage Directors and Choreographers Society, as well as theDramatists Guild andWriters Guild of America. He directed many of his plays in regional theatres in the U.S. and Canada.
Bobrick died on October 11, 2019, at age 87, shortly after suffering a stroke.[2] He had a wife, Julie, from a second marriage in 2000. His first marriage to Jeanne Johnson in 1963 ended in divorce in 1990.[2] Bobrick also had three children.
Though it quickly expired on Broadway, it ran seven years at the Ebony (1971–1978), where it became the most popular production in a theater founded by Nick and Edna Stewart in 1949.
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