George Schlatter

Last updated

George Schlatter
GeorgeSchlatterMar11.jpg
Schlatter in March 2011
Born (1932-12-31) December 31, 1932 (age 91)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Occupation(s)Producer, director
Years active1952–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1956)​
Children2

George Schlatter (born December 31, 1932) is an American television producer and director, best known for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In , founder of the American Comedy Awards, and author of Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy (Unnamed Press 2023).

Contents

For his work on television, Schlatter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd. [1]

Life and career

Schlatter was born on December 31, 1932, [lower-alpha 1] in Birmingham, Alabama, [3] and raised in Webster Groves, Missouri, a St. Louis inner-ring suburb. [4] His father, George Schlatter, was a salesman, and his mother, Miriam Hoover, was a violinist. [5] [6] Schlatter is a Christian, although he is often described as Jewish. His father was a Presbyterian of German descent, and his mother was a Christian Scientist. [7] [8] As a teenager, Schlatter sang for two seasons with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, where his mother also performed. He attended Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California. [4]

Schlatter was a Hollywood agent in the band and act department of MCA Records. After several years, he left to become general manager at the Sunset Strip nightclub Ciro's. The comedy team of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin performed there. In the early 1960s, following a short stint in Las Vegas, he started producing variety series and specials for television. Between 1964 and 1970, he oversaw the annual telecast of the Grammy Awards. In 1968, he formed George Schlatter Productions, noted for Rowan and Martin's Laugh In on NBC. [9]

Schlatter in May 2013 GeorgeSchlatterHWOFMay2013.jpg
Schlatter in May 2013

In the 1970s and 1980s, Schlatter produced and directed several television series, while continuing to produce variety specials. In 1987, he started "The American Comedy Awards", which was an annual event through 2001. Schlatter also produced a few feature films, and owns The Editing Company, which for many years was one of Hollywood's busiest state-of-the-art post production facilities. [9]

Schlatter has been married to actress Jolene Brand, who was a regular on several Ernie Kovacs shows of the early 1960s, since 1956. [2] They have two daughters. [10]

Television work

A partial listing of his television achievements follows.

Executive producer

  • Muhammad Ali's All-Star 60th Birthday Celebration! (2002)
  • Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1972)
  • Turn-On (1969; unsuccessful)
  • Arnold's Closet Revue (1971)
  • Real People (1979)
  • Goldie and Liza Together (1980)
  • Annual American Comedy Awards (1987–2001) [9]
  • A Party for Richard Pryor (1991)
  • The First Annual Comedy Hall of Fame (1993)
  • Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) [9]
  • Caesars Palace 30th Anniversary Celebration (1996)
  • The American Film Institute Salute to Dustin Hoffman (1999)
  • The American Film Institute Salute to Harrison Ford (2000)

Producer

  • Victor Borge's Twentieth Anniversary Special (1961) [9]
  • The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1962) [9]
  • The Judy Garland Show (1963)
  • The Fabulous Funnies (1968) [11]
  • The New Bill Cosby Show (1972)
  • Cher (1975)
  • John Denver and Friend (1976)
  • The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here? (1977)
  • The Goldie Hawn Special (1978)
  • Salute to Lady Liberty (1984)
  • Las Vegas: An All-Star 75th Anniversary (1987)
  • Frank, Liza, and Sammy: The Ultimate Event (1989) [9]
  • Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration (1990) [9]
  • Muhammad Ali's 50th Birthday Celebration (1992)

Director

  • The Dinah Shore Special: Like Hep (1969)
  • Comedy Club (1987)
  • Frank, Liza, and Sammy: The Ultimate Event (1989)
  • Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In: 25th Anniversary Reunion (1993)

Filmography

A partial listing of films that he produced and/or directed follows.

Awards and honors

Between 1968 and 1996, Schlatter was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning twice for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as Outstanding Musical or Variety Program (1968) and for Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration as Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special (1990). He was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in 1997. [12] For his work on television, Schlatter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd. [1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Schlatter's year of birth has regularly been given as 1932, as he lied about his age early in his career: "I should have told a bigger lie and said I was born in 1942." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goldie Hawn</span> American actress (born 1945)

Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cactus Flower (1969).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liza Minnelli</span> American actress, singer, dancer (born 1946)

Liza May Minnelli is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is one of the very few performers awarded a non-competitive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). Minnelli is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorne Michaels</span> Canadian-American television producer, writer, and actor (born 1944)

Lorne Michaels is a Canadian-American television writer and film producer. He created and produces Saturday Night Live and produced the Late Night series, The Kids in the Hall and The Tonight Show.

<i>Rowan & Martins Laugh-In</i> American comedy television series

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Davis Jr.</span> American entertainer (1925–1990)

Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, actor, comedian and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Comedy Store</span> Comedy club in West Hollywood, California

The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Bishop</span> American entertainer (1918–2007)

Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk/variety show host, then later hosted a late-night talk show with Regis Philbin as his young sidekick on ABC. He also was a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. He is listed as 96th entry on Comedy Central's list of 100 greatest comedians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Rowan</span> American actor (1922–1987)

Daniel Hale Rowan was an American actor and comedian. He was featured in the television show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, in which he played straight man to Dick Martin and won the 1969 Emmy for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series.

<i>The Dean Martin Show</i> American TV series or program

The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the series was his 1964 hit "Everybody Loves Somebody".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Buzzi</span> American actress and comedian (born 1936)

Ruth Ann Buzzi is a retired American actress and comedian. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations.

Bruce Gowers was a British television director and producer, best known for his work on large-scale live music and event productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Bearde</span>

Chris Bearde was a British-born comedy writer, producer and director best known for his work as a writer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and for co-writing and producing television specials for Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, Sonny & Cher, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Andy Williams, The Jackson 5, The Osmonds, Dinah Shore, Diana Ross, and Lucille Ball. He also created the format for the original Gong Show and a number of network and pay-cable comedy series including That's My Mama and Sherman Oaks.

<i>The Colgate Comedy Hour</i> American TV series or program

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series are archived at the UCLA Library in their Special Collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Martin</span> American comedian (1922–2008)

Thomas Richard Martin was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host of the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Zweibel</span> American author, playwright, screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and comedian

Alan Zweibel is an American television writer, author, playwright, and screenwriter whom TheNew York Times says has “earned a place in the pantheon of American pop culture." An original Saturday Night Live writer, Zweibel has won five Emmy Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work in television, which includes It's Garry Shandling's Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Rowby Goren is an American writer specializing in comedy. He was a part of the writing team of the comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, created by George Schlatter. Goren's writing talents range from variety shows to situation comedy, game shows, cartoons, as well as directing Joe Roth and Neal Israel's comedy feature Cracking Up. Goren was Creative Director of Joe Roth and Neal Israel's cult video Tunnel Vision. Goren won an Emmy for writing Hollywood Squares. He also wrote for numerous animated series including Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Berenstain Bears, Tiny Toon Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!,Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as well as Saturday morning series such as various Sid and Marty Krofft's H.R. Pufnstuf series.

Arthur Schneider was a television pioneer and a four-time Emmy Award winning television editor, with a career spanning from 1951 to 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kliph Nesteroff</span> American–Canadian author

Kliph Nesteroff is a Canadian author.

Perry Rosemond, CM is a Canadian television writer, producer and director.

References

  1. 1 2 Schlatter, George. "Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory" . Retrieved January 27, 2008.
  2. 1 2 Oates, Barb (July 11, 2023). "What Makes George Schlatter Television's Best "Accident"?". Remind Magazine. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ Detweiler, Craig (September 28, 2013). "Why would a Jewish producer attend a Christian university?". Hollywood Journal.
  4. 1 2 Schlatter, George. "Yahoo Movies Biography" . Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  5. ↑ "George Schlatter Biography ((?)-)".
  6. ↑ "John Schlatter Obituary (1935 - 2014)". The Orange County Register .
  7. ↑ Maron, Marc (September 21, 2017). "Episode 848 - George Schlatter". WTF with Marc Maron.
  8. ↑ Tugend, Tom (October 3, 2013). "Pepperdine to honor Hollywood's Jewish moguls". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles . Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Schlatter, George. "Hollywood.com" . Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  10. ↑ "'Laugh-In' creator George Schlatter is 'Still Laughing' in new memoir". Los Angeles Daily News . August 29, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  11. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 149. ISBN   978-0-7864-7444-8.
  12. ↑ Schlatter, George. "Internet Movie DataBase Awards". IMDb . Retrieved January 28, 2008.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.