Bernie West
Bernie West | |
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Publicity Photo of Bernie West | |
Born | Bernard Wessler (1918-05-30)May 30, 1918 New York City, U.S. |
Died | July 29, 2010(2010-07-29) (aged 92) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
Occupation | television writer |
Alma mater | Baruch College |
Period | 1970s and 1980s |
Genre | sitcoms |
Notable works | All in the Family The Jeffersons Three's Company The Ropers Three's A Crowd |
Notable awards | Emmy (1973) |
Spouse | Miriam "Mimi" West (died 2004) |
Children | 2 daughters |
Bernie West (May 30, 1918 – July 29, 2010) was an American television writer and actor best known for his work in situation comedies such as All in the Family, its spinoff The Jeffersons, and Three's Company.
Biography
Born on May 30, 1918, in the Bronx, New York City as Bernard Wessler, to Russian-Jewish immigrants; he earned his undergraduate degree from Baruch College, earning a Bachelor of Business Science in advertising.[1] West worked as a nightclub comedian, and performed on tour with the U.S.O. in the Pacific Theatre after being rejected from the military based on medical issues.[2] As part of the comedy duo Ross & West, he toured the hotel circuit in the Catskills and Poconos with Ross Martin, quipping, "Everything we did may not have been original, but what we stole was good!"[3] After Martin left, he was replaced by Mickey Ross, a college friend of West's who changed his name from Isadore Rovinsky so that the comedy duo could retain the Ross & West name.[1][3]
Broadway and film credits
West appeared on Broadway in the 1956 production of Bells Are Ringing, creating the comedic character of Dr. Kitchell, the frustrated dentist who composed songs on a compressed air hose; and reprised that role in the 1960 film version starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.[3]
He also appeared in 1962's All American by Mel Brooks and starring Ray Bolger, Poor Bitos with Donald Pleasence, The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr and the 1969 production of The Front Page alongside Helen Hayes.[2][3] He appeared on television on The Ed Sullivan Show, Car 54 Where Are You?, The Phil Silvers Show (to whom he bore a passing resemblance), and had a guest shot on Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C..[2]
Television work
After submitting a script for the show in 1971, West and partner Mickey Ross became writers for Norman Lear's All in the Family, working with another partner, Don Nicholl, as producers.[2] West won an Emmy Award in 1973 for his writing on the episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers", together with Ross and Lee Kalcheim.[1][3] The writing team created the character played by Bea Arthur as the lead in the All in the Family spinoff Maude. The trio wrote and produced The Jeffersons, another spinoff from All in the Family that ran for a decade starting in 1975. They created, produced, and wrote for the short-lived situation comedy The Dumplings, whose pilot aired in 1975 and which ran as a weekly series in early 1976. In 1977, they adapted for US audiences a British sitcom into Three's Company, which ran until 1984, as well as that show's less-successful spinoffs The Ropers and Three's a Crowd.[3]
Together with his wife Mimi, who died in April 2004, West was a generous contributor to the Los Angeles Free Clinic. She had first discovered the Clinic after driving her husband to his job writing for All in the Family. West regularly contributed a portion of his salary while his wife worked there without pay. In 1997, the couple donated $500,000 towards the provision of pediatric dental care for those children without access to dentists.[4][5]
West died at age 92 on July 29, 2010, at his home in Beverly Hills, California due to complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was survived by two daughters and two grandsons.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Thursby, Keith. "Bernie West dies at 92; writer and producer on 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons'", Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2010. Accessed August 3, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Weber, Bruce. to "Bernie West, a TV Writer Known for βAll in the Family,β Dies at 92", The New York Times, August 3, 2010. Accessed August 3, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Barnes, Mike. "Emmy winner Bernie West dies at 92: Worked on 'All in the Family,' 'Jeffersons,' 'Three's Company'", The Hollywood Reporter, August 2, 2010. Accessed August 3, 2010.
- ^ Oliver, Myrna. "Miriam 'Mimi' West, 81; Raised Millions for the L.A. Free Clinic", Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2004. Accessed August 3, 2010.
- ^ The History of Saban Community Clinic Archived 2016-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, Saban Community Clinic. Accessed August 3, 2010.
External links
- Bernie West at IMDb
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- James Allardice & Jack Douglas & Hal Kanter & Harry Winkler for The George Gobel Show (1955)
- Arnold M. Auerbach & Barry Blitzer & Vincent Bogert & Nat Hiken & Coleman Jacoby & Harvey Orkin & Arnold Rosen & Terry Ryan & Tony Webster for The Phil Silvers Show (1956)
- No Award (1957)
- Billy Friedberg & Nat Hiken & Coleman Jacoby & Arnold Rosen & A.J. Russell & Terry Ryan & Phil Sharp & Tony Webster & Sydney Zelinka for The Phil Silvers Show (1958)
- George Balzer & Hal Goldman & Al Gordon & Sam Perrin for The Jack Benny Show (1959)
- George Balzer & Hal Goldman & Al Gordon & Sam Perrin for The Jack Benny Show (1960)
- Dave O'Brien & Martin Ragaway & Sherwood Schwartz & Al Schwartz & Red Skelton for The Red Skelton Show (1961)
- Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1962)
- Carl Reiner for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1963)
- No Award (1964)
- No Award (1965)
- Sam Denoff & Bill Persky for "Coast to Coast Big Mouth" (1966)
- Buck Henry & Leonard B. Stern for "Ship of Spies: Parts 1 and 2" (1967)
- Allan Burns & Chris Hayward for "The Coming Out Party" (1968)
- No Award (1969)
- No Award (1970)
- James L. Brooks & Allan Burns for "Support Your Local Mother" (1971)
- Burt Styler for "Edith's Problem" (1972)
- Lee Kalcheim & Michael Ross & Bernie West for "The Bunkers and the Swingers" (1973)
- Treva Silverman for "The Lou and Edie Story" (1974)
- Stan Daniels & Ed. Weinberger for "Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?" (1975)
- David Lloyd for "Chuckles Bites the Dust" (1976)
- James L. Brooks & Allan Burns & Stan Daniels & Bob Ellison & David Lloyd & Ed. Weinberger for "The Last Show" (1977)
- Harve Brosten & Barry Harman & Bob Schiller & Bob Weiskopf for "Cousin Liz" (1978)
- No Award (1979)
- R.J. Colleary for "The Photographer" (1980)
- Michael J. Leeson for "Tony's Sister and Jim" (1981)
- Ken Estin for "Elegant Iggy" (1982)
- Glen Charles and Les Charles for "Give Me a Ring Sometime" (1983)
- David Angell for "Old Flames" (1984)
- Ed. Weinberger & Michael J. Leeson for "Pilot" (The Cosby Show) (1985)
- Barry Fanaro & Mort Nathan for "A Little Romance" (1986)
- Gary David Goldberg & Alan Uger for "A, My Name is Alex" (1987)
- Hugh Wilson for "The Bridge" (1988)
- Diane English for "Pilot" (Murphy Brown) (1989)
- Bob Brush for "Good-bye" (1990)
- Gary Dontzig & Steven Peterman for "Jingle Hell, Jingle Hell, Jingle All the Way" (1991)
- Elaine Pope & Larry Charles for "The Fix-Up" (1992)
- Larry David for "The Contest" (1993)
- David Angell & Peter Casey & David Lee for "The Good Son" (1994)
- Chuck Ranberg & Anne Flett-Giordano for "An Affair to Forget" (1995)
- Joe Keenan & Christopher Lloyd & Rob Greenberg & Jack Burditt & Chuck Ranberg & Anne Flett-Giordano & Linda Morris & Vic Rauseo for "Moon Dance" (1996)
- Ellen DeGeneres & Mark Driscoll & Dava Savel & Tracy Newman & Jonathan Stark for "The Puppy Episode" (1997)
- Peter Tolan & Garry Shandling for "Flip" (1998)
- Jay Kogen for "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz" (1999)
- Linwood Boomer for "Pilot" (Malcolm in the Middle) (2000)
- Alex Reid for "Bowling" (2001)
- Larry Wilmore for "Pilot" (The Bernie Mac Show) (2002)
- Tucker Cawley for "Baggage" (2003)
- Mitchell Hurwitz for "Pilot" (Arrested Development) (2004)
- Mitchell Hurwitz & Jim Vallely for "Righteous Brothers" (2005)
- Greg Garcia for "Pilot" (My Name Is Earl) (2006)
- Greg Daniels for "Gay Witch Hunt" (2007)
- Tina Fey for "Cooter" (2008)
- Matt Hubbard for "Reunion" (2009)
- Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd for "Pilot" (Modern Family) (2010)
- Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman for "Caught in the Act" (2011)
- Louis C.K. for "Pregnant" (2012)
- Tina Fey & Tracey Wigfield for "Last Lunch" (2013)
- Louis C.K. for "So Did the Fat Lady" (2014)
- Simon Blackwell & Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche for "Election Night" (2015)
- Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang for "Parents" (2016)
- Aziz Ansari & Lena Waithe for "Thanksgiving" (2017)
- Amy Sherman-Palladino for "Pilot" (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) (2018)
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge for "Episode 1" (2019)
- Dan Levy for "Happy Ending" (2020)
- Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky for "There Is No Line" (2021)
- Quinta Brunson for "Pilot" (Abbott Elementary) (2022)
- Christopher Storer for "System" (2023)