Sherwood Schwartz, the Emmy-winnning television mastermind behind "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch," has died at 94.
"He had a lot of favorite projects and a lot of favorite shows and his
favorite one was always the next one," his son and producing partner,
Lloyd J. Schwartz, told TheWrap. "He didn't really die. He just ran out
of time to do things." (click below to read more)
The father and son were working together on the upcoming Warner Bros. film adaptation of "Gilligan's Island" at the time of Schwartz's death, Lloyd J. Schwartz said
Besides creating shows that became staples across generations as they
lived on in syndication, Schwartz wrote for legends including Bon Hope,
Red Skelton, and Milton Berle.
Born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1916, Schwartz studied pre-med at New
York University before writing for "The Bob Hope Radio Show" in 1939
with his brother, Al. After four years with Hope, he wrote for the Armed
Forces Radio Service, then for the radio version of "The Adventures of
Ozzie and Harriet."
Once he turned to television, he worked on more than 700 shows, by his
own count. They included "I Married Joan," "The Red Skelton Show," and
"My Favorite Martian." He shared a 1961 Emmy for writing for Skelton.
In 1963, he created "Gilligan's Island," which would become a TV staple
and provide a classic setup for shows as diverse as "Lost" and
"Survivor": a group of diverse people are trapped on an island, trying
to live as comfortably as possible and perhaps one day go home.
The simple scenario endures in re-runs, and its theme song, which he
co-wrote with George Wyle, is one of the catchiest in TV history --
perhaps only matched by the "Brady Bunch" theme that he co-wrote with
Frank DeVol.
The success of "Gilligan's Island" led to three two-hour TV movies,
including one, "Rescue from Gilligan's Island," which Schwartz said was
the first "reunion show."
In 1969, he created "The Brady Bunch," a Gen X classic that led to more
reunion shows and two feature films in the 1990s, "The Brady Bunch
Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel."
Schwartz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008, the same year he joined the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
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