Robert Brush is an American writer-producer and composer, best known for his work as executive producer, writer and show runner of ABC's The Wonder Years . For The Wonder Years he received an Emmy for individual writing, the Peabody Award, and multiple Humanitas Awards. [1] [2] [3] He wrote, developed and produced the CBS hit series Early Edition, and ABC's Karen Sisco , as well as adapting for television the novels The Prince of Tides and Scruples (miniseries).
Brush began his career as a musical composer following his graduation from Yale, where he was Pitchpipe of the Yale Whiffenpoofs. [4] In the 1970s he worked at Sesame Street and Captain Kangaroo , writing scripts and composing songs, among them the Good Morning Captain theme song. In 1981 he composed the score for the Broadway musical The First , about baseball immortal Jackie Robinson, which ran for 70 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre. [5] [6] In 1986 he teamed with writer/producer Jay Tarses on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd , starring Blair Brown, and The Slap Maxwell Story with Dabney Coleman. Beginning in 1988 he executive-produced and wrote The Wonder Years for its run of over 100 episodes, and followed with Early Edition, starring Kyle Chandler. Other projects include Raising Caines, 111 Gramercy Park, and No Ordinary Girl.
Brush returned to New York to pursue his love of literature and is completing a series of novels. His first novel, The Piazza: Stories from Piazza Santa Caterina Piccola, is currently available for pre-order and will be released August 1, 2022. [7] [8]
Brush lives in Manhattan and Hudson, NY with his wife, actress and writer Mel Harris. [9] They have four children.
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, the leading actress in the films Altered States (1980), Continental Divide (1981) and Strapless (1989), as well as a run as the title character in the comedy-drama television series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, which ran from 1987 to 1991. Her later roles include Nina Sharp on the Fox television series Fringe and Judy King on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.
Isadore "Dore" Schary was an American playwright, director, and producer for the stage and a prolific screenwriter and producer of motion pictures. He directed one feature film, Act One, the film biography of his friend, playwright and theatre director Moss Hart. He became head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and replaced Louis B. Mayer as president of the studio in 1951.
Nancy Ann Travis is an American actress. She began her career on Off-Broadway theater, before her first leading screen role in the ABC television miniseries Harem opposite Omar Sharif. Her breakthrough came in 1987, playing Sylvia Bennington in the comedy film Three Men and a Baby. She later starred in its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990).
Kenneth Edward Olin is an American actor, television director, and producer. As an actor, Olin is known for his role as Michael Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama nomination in 1990. Olin later began working behind the scenes, as a director and producer. His credits as a producer include Alias (2001–2006), Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011), and This Is Us (2016–2022). Olin is married to actress Patricia Wettig.
Patricia Anne Wettig is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston in the television series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Michele Lee is an American actress, singer, dancer, producer and director. She is known for her role as Karen Fairgate MacKenzie on the prime-time soap opera Knots Landing, for which she was nominated for a 1982 Emmy Award and won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Actress in 1988, 1991, and 1992. She was the only performer to appear in all 344 episodes of the series.
Carla Gugino is an American actress. After early roles in the films Troop Beverly Hills (1989), This Boy's Life (1993), Son in Law (1993), and Snake Eyes (1998), Gugino received wider recognition for her starring roles in the Spy Kids trilogy (2001–2003), Sin City (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), American Gangster (2007), Righteous Kill (2008), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Sally Jupiter in Watchmen (2009), Sucker Punch (2011), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), San Andreas (2015), Gerald's Game (2017), Gunpowder Milkshake (2021), and Lisa Frankenstein (2024).
John Phillip Landgraf is the Chairman of FX Networks. He is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Previously he was President and General Manager of FX Network, a position he held since 2005. TV critic Alan Sepinwall jokingly refers to Landgraf as "the Mayor of TV".
Mel Harris is an American actress best known for her role as Hope Murdoch Steadman in the ABC drama series Thirtysomething (1987–1991), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in 1990.
Winnie Holzman is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and producer. She is best known for writing the book of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Wicked, and for creating the television series My So-Called Life. She also co-wrote the screenplays for the two-part film versions of Wicked. Holzman's other television work includes the series Thirtysomething and Once and Again. Her other stage work includes short plays and the full-length drama, Choice.
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist Productions—but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious cinema or TV. The prize is distinguished from similar honors for screenwriters in that a cash award, between $10,000 and $25,000, accompanies each prize. Journalist Barbara Walters once said, "What the Nobel Prize is to literature and the Pulitzer Prize is to journalism, the Humanitas Prize has become for American television."
Željko Ivanek is a Slovenian-American actor. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he is the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Drama Desk Award, as well as three Tony Award nominations.
Jeffrey Lane is an author, television scriptwriter, film producer and actor. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
David Marshall Grant is an American actor, singer and writer.
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter and television producer. He is a two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, as well as a Guggenheim, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.
Donald Joseph Scardino is an American television director, producer, and retired actor.
Martin Ellyot Manulis was an American television, film, and theatre producer. Manulis was best known for his work in the 1950s producing the CBS Television programs Suspense, Studio One Summer Theatre, Climax!, The Best of Broadway and Playhouse 90. He was the sole producer of the award-winning drama series, Playhouse 90, during its first two seasons from 1956 to 1958.
Mel Tolkin was an American television comedy writer best known as head writer of the live sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows during the Golden Age of Television. There he presided over a staff that at times included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Danny Simon. The writers' room inspired the film My Favorite Year (1982), produced by Brooks, and the Broadway play Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993), written by Neil Simon.
Joshua Brand is an American television writer, director, and producer who created St. Elsewhere, I'll Fly Away and Northern Exposure with his writing-and-producing partner John Falsey, with whom he worked through 1994. He was also a writer and consulting producer of FX's 2013–18 series The Americans.
Bebe Drake is an American actress.