Emmy winner Bernie West dies at 92

Worked on 'All in the Family,' 'Jeffersons,' 'Three's Company'


By Mike Barnes
Aug 2, 2010, 02:39 PM ET
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib4a9d37a2...


Bernie West, an Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer who worked on the
classic sitcoms "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's
Company," died July 29 at his Beverly Hills home of complications from
Alzheimer's disease. He was 92.


West won his Emmy in 1973 for writing, with Mickey Ross, the "Bunkers
and the Swingers" episode on "All in the Family." He received two other
noms as a producer for his work on "All in the Family" and "Three's
Company."


In 1971, he and Ross submitted a script for "All in the Family" to
Norman Lear and began what Bernie referred to as his first steady job.
They worked on the CBS sitcom from 1971-74, where they were writers,
script consultants, story editors and eventually, with Don Nicholl,
producers.


West and Ross created the character of Maude, played by Bea Arthur, on a
1972 episode of "All in the Family" that spun into another long-running
CBS series. And he and his partners worked on the 1974 pilot script of
NBC's "Chico and the Man."


Nicholl, Ross and West later wrote and produced for "The Jeffersons,"
which ran for 10 years, and then "Three's Company." Other series
included "The Dumplings" and two spinoffs of "Three's Company," "The
Ropers" and "Three's a Crowd."


Born Bernard Wessler in the Bronx, he and Martin Rosenblatt, later known
as Ross Martin of "Wild Wild West" fame, formed the stand-up team of
Ross & West. When Martin left to get married, West worked with his
friend, Isadore Rovinsky, who changed his name to Mickey Ross so that
the act could continue as Ross & West.


Ross & West worked nightclubs and vaudeville. "Everything we did may not
have been original," West once said, "but what we stole was good!"


A popular entertainer in the "Borscht Belt" of upstate New York, he
spent many summers performing in the Catskills, at Green Mansions in the
Adirondacks and at Tamiment in the Poconos. Among his early acting
credits were appearances on "The Garry Moore Show," "Dixon of Dock
Green," "The Arthur Murray Show," "The Jack Paar Show," "The Ed Sullivan
Show," "The Phil Silvers Show," "Car 54, Where Are You?" and Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C."


West also created the role of Dr. Kitchell, the song-writing dentist, on
Broadway in "Bells Are Ringing" starring Judy Holliday, which opened in
1956. He went on to recreate the role in the 1960 film, which also
starred Holliday as well as Dean Martin.


Other Broadway appearances included "All American" with Ray Bolger,
"Poor Bitos" with Donald Pleasance, "The Beauty Part" with Bert Lahr and
the 1969 revival of "The Front Page" with Helen Hayes.


West and his wife, Mimi, who died in 2004, supported numerous cultural,
political, arts and community service organizations, including the Los
Angeles Free Clinic (now known as the Saban Free Clinic) and Baruch
College, where they endowed the Bernie West Theater (referred to by
current students as "The Bernie").


NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Bobby Hebb, whose 1966 pop music classic "Sunny" described a sincere smile from a woman that lifted the singer's burdens, died Tuesday. He was 72.

Family members and a funeral home spokeswoman said Hebb died at Centennial Medical Center. Friends said he had lung cancer.

"Sunny" also was recorded by many other singers, including Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett and Jose Feliciano.

The song's key lines:

"Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain.

"Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain.

"The dark days are gone and the bright days are here.

"My sunny one shines so sincere.

"Sunny one so true, I love you."

Hebb had said in several interviews that he wrote "Sunny" in response to the slaying of his brother outside a Nashville nightclub and to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy a few days before.

On his 69th birthday in 2007, he recalled that he was living and performing in New York City at the time he wrote the song.

"I was intoxicated," Hebb told The Associated Press. "I came home and started playing the guitar. I looked up and saw what looked like a purple sky. I started writing because I'd never seen that before."

He included the song in his act at a bar called Brandy's and the audience liked it.

After a Japanese artist had a hit with the song in Asia and vibraphone player Dave Pike recorded it in the United States, Hebb recorded the vocal at Bell Sound in New York.

At the height of "Sunny" popularity, Hebb toured with the Beatles.

In a 2004 interview with The Tennessean newspaper, Hebb recalled that all four Beatles were nice.

"John (Lennon) and George (Harrison) were very quiet," he said. "But Ringo (Starr) and Paul (McCartney) were more active and easier to get to know. It was just something to be with those cats."

In 1971, Lou Rawls won a Grammy award for "A Natural Man," written by Hebb and Sandy Baron. Broadcast Music Incorporated said Tuesday there have been 7 million airings of "Sunny."

As recently as 2007, Hebb was still writing songs and had his own publishing company and record label, Hebb Cats.

Hebb was born to blind parents and raised in Nashville. He joined the Navy in 1955 where he played the trumpet in a jazz band.

In the 1950s Hebb also played and danced with Roy Acuff's country band, the Smoky Mountain Boys, and became one of the first black musicians to perform on the Grand Ole Opry show in Nashville.


Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, has died at age 99.

His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, says her father died in New York City after a short illness.

Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.

"Sing Along With Mitch" started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller's stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous.

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Bond Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz Passes Away at Age 68
by Peter Hall Aug 2nd 2010 // 12:03PM

Filed under: Obits

Tom Mankiewicz, best recognized for his work as a screenwriter on several of James Bond's 1970s films, passed away on July 31st after losing a struggle with cancer. Mankiewicz, son of All About Eve screenwriter Joseph Mankiewicz, has his name on the screenplays for Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, Ladyhawke, and Dragnet, but that was hardly the extent of his career. In addition to being a regular Bond writer, the L.A. Native was also a television writer and director who worked on such projects as Bob Hope Presents, Movin' With Nancy, Hart to Hart, and Tales From the Crypt.

Mankiewicz was also one of Hollywood's great script fixers, often lending his talents to movies without official receiving an official, on-screen credit. As a "creative consultant," he was responsible for various duties on The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Superman 1 & 2, Gremlins, War Games, and Batman.

The Bond-enthusiast fansite MI6.co.uk has a rather extensive and loving remembrance of Tom Mankiewicz, a definite read for fans. Our best wishes go out to his friends and family.