Sherwood Schwartz

Sherwood Schwartz
Schwartz receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2008)
Born	Sherwood Charles Schwartz November 14, 1916(1916-11-14) Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	July 12, 2011(2011-07-12) (aged 94) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Natural causes
Occupation	Television producer, screenwriter
Years active	1938–2011
Spouse	Mildred Seidman (23 December 1941 – 12 July 2011) (his death) 4 children

Sherwood Charles Schwartz (November 14, 1916 – July 12, 2011) was an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC. On March 7, 2008, Schwartz, at the time still active in his 90s, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Life and career

Schwartz's entertainment career came "by accident". He relocated from New York to southern California to pursue a master of science degree in biology. In need of employment, he began writing jokes for Bob Hope's radio program, for which Schwartz's brother, Al Schwartz, worked. Schwartz recalled that Hope "liked my jokes, used them on his show and got big laughs. Then he asked me to join his writing staff. I was faced with a major decision — writing comedy or starving to death while I cured those diseases. I made a quick career change."

He went on to write for Ozzie Nelson's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and other radio shows. Schwartz was a writer on the Armed Forces Radio Network before he got his break in television. He went on to create and produce Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. He wrote the theme song for three of his shows: Gilligan's Island (co-wrote), It's About Time, and The Brady Bunch.

Syndication turned his two major successes into TV institutions with cultural relevance. He made them icons, and as a result he became a television icon.

TV appearances

During the late 1990s and the 2000s, he made many appearances on TV talking about his series, on shows such as the CBS Evening News, 20/20, TV Land's Top Ten and A&E's Biography. He also took part in a "Creators" marathon on Nick at Nite in the late 1990s. He was also a guest at the 2004 TV Land Awards.

In 1988, Schwartz appeared on The Late Show with Ross Shafer for a Gilligan's Island reunion, along with all seven castaways from Gilligan's Island. This was the last time they were all together on television.

Personal life

Schwartz was born in Passaic, New Jersey to a Jewish family.

In his 1988 book, Inside Gilligan's Island, Schwartz mentions he did not get along well with Red Skelton. In his early years as head writer, it was in his contract that Schwartz would not have to meet face-to-face with Skelton.^{[citation needed]}

Pop culture references

On a Robin Hood-themed episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, a character states that Sherwood Forest is a relative of Sherwood Schwartz. Also, a Roseanne episode was entirely devoted to Gilligan's Island and was titled "Sherwood Schwartz: A Loving Tribute". In Raising Hope, Sherwood is indirectly mentioned during the opening scene of the second season as someone who "started each day with a song that perfectly recapped what was going on." Then she points to an empty chair with a Gilligan-type sailor cap on it. During the episode, the main character, Jimmy, loses his memory and his doctor advises him that unlike a sit-com, memory can't be regained by hitting someone on the head again and uses an episode of Gilligan's Island to illustrate the point.

Death

On July 12, 2011, Sherwood Schwartz died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes. He is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Mildred Schwartz and their four children: Donald, Lloyd (the creator of The Munsters Today), Ross, and Hope (Mrs. Juber; reportedly named after Bob Hope) eight grandchildren, Juli, Jill, Jackie, Andy, Becky, Nico, Ilsey, and Elliot as well as four great-grandchildren, Rachel, Sarah, Evan and Aidan,.

Filmography

Schwartz produced a number of radio and TV shows during his career.

Series	Years	Job
The Bob Hope Show	1938–1942	Writer for radio version
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	1940s	Writer for radio version
The Alan Young Show	1940s	Writer for radio version
I Married Joan	1952–1955	Writer
The Red Skelton Show	1956–1962	Writer
My Favorite Martian	1963	Script supervisor
Gilligan's Island	1964–1967	Writer, creator, producer
It's About Time	1966–1967	Writer, creator, producer
The Brady Bunch	1969–1974	Writer, creator, producer
Dusty's Trail	1973–1974	Writer, creator, producer
Big John, Little John	1976	Producer
Harper Valley PTA	1981–1982	Writer, producer
Together We Stand	1986–1987	Writer, producer

Stage productions

On November 10, 2006, his play Rockers opened in Theater West in California. In 1990, he wrote Gilligan's Island: The Musical, still in production as of 2011. His son Lloyd, daughter Hope, and son-in-law Laurence Juber worked on the play as well.^{[citation needed]}

Unsold pilots

He wrote and executive produced two unsold television pilots:

• Scamps (1982) — starring Bob Denver, Dreama Denver, and Joey Lawrence
• The Invisible Woman (1983) — starring Bob Denver, Alexa Hamilton, George Gobel, and Harvey Korman

Awards

• Won the 1961 Emmy Award for his writing on The Red Skelton Show.
• Was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his 2004 special Still Brady After All These Years
• On March 7, 2008, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Actresses Dawn Wells and Florence Henderson, who appeared in Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, respectively, accompanied Schwartz when he received his star.

External links

• Sherwood Schwartz in The Comedy Hall of Fame Archives
• An interview from 2011 with Sherwood Schwartz
• SherwoodSchwartz.com authorized Web site
• Biographic sketch of Sherwood Schwartz
• Sherwood Schwartz at the Internet Movie Database
• Signature of Sherwood Schwartz from Here on Gilligan's Isle
• Sherwood Schwartz interview at Archive of American Television – September 17, 1997