Michael Norell

Last updated
Michael Norell
Michael Norell.jpg
Norell in 2017
Born
Michael Alden Norell

(1937-10-04)October 4, 1937
DiedMay 12, 2023(2023-05-12) (aged 85)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • screenwriter
  • executive producer
Years active1972–2001 [1]

Michael Alden Norell (October 4, 1937 – May 12, 2023) was an American screenwriter, actor, and executive producer who starred as Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley on the television series Emergency! , produced by Jack Webb from 1972 to 1978.

Contents

Life and career

Norell was born in Wallace, Idaho on October 4, 1937, to mother Wilma Helen Snook (1905–2001) and father James Alden Norell (1908–1989). His family, including brother James, moved to follow his father who was in the Army, and who ultimately retired with the rank of Brigadier General. His father was sent to Korea during the war. The family lived in Tokyo, Japan. Norell returned to the States after the war and attended Falls Church High School in Virginia where he acted in several school plays. He attended college at Washington and Lee University where he majored in journalism. [2]

After graduating college Norell entered the Army where he spent the next five years, leaving with the rank of captain. After his stint in the Army he went to work for the Richmond Times-Dispatch . [3] He went to New York City not too long after returning to civilian life and worked at acting full-time. Six months later he arrived in Hollywood where he won the role of Captain Henry "Hank" Stanley for the show Emergency! .

In addition to acting in the show, Norell also wrote four episodes of Emergency! which began his career as a screenwriter. Norell commented on the show's writing process, "I would be invited by [executive producer] Bob Cinader to pitch ideas. You'd spend an hour or two throwing out ideas for rescues and hospital stories and firehouse stories and eventually there were enough that he liked and he'd tell you to go to work. A couple of weeks later, you'd turn in a first draft." [4] All rewrites were handled by other writers. [4]

After Emergency! ended, Norell turned to screenwriting. He wrote for shows such as The Love Boat , Love Boat: The Next Wave , Nash Bridges , and The Magnificent Seven , among others. His screenwriting credits also include several made-for-TV movies such as Doomsday Rock , Three on a Date, The Covergirl and the Cop, Pals, Barnum, Christmas Comes to Willow Creek , and The Incident for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. [5] Other films include The Diamond Fleece , Long Gone , and Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore . Norell created and was executive producer for the short-lived Love Boat clone Aloha Paradise .

Norell died in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on May 12, 2023, at the age of 85. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screenwriter</span> Person who writes for films, TV shows, comics, and games

A screenwriter is someone who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television commercials, video games, and the growing area of online web series.

A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over the production, and the executive producer's role is limited to investing. In scripted comedy and drama TV shows, the showrunner also usually serves as the head writer. The role of a showrunner is not present on all television series, especially outside the US; this article describes the nature of the role where it is present.

<i>This Is the Army</i> 1943 film by Michael Curtiz

This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Jack L. Warner and Hal B. Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Ezra Stone. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942 Broadway musical written by James McColl and Irving Berlin, with music and lyrics by Berlin. Berlin composed the film's 19 songs, and sang one of them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screenwriting</span> Art and craft of writing screenplays

Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John August</span> American film director and screenwriter

John August is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is known for writing the films Go (1999), Charlie's Angels (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Frankenweenie (2012), the Disney live-action adaptation of Aladdin (2019), the novels Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire (2018), Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon (2019) and Arlo Finch in the Kingdom of Shadows (2020).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Fancher</span> American actor and director

Hampton Lansden Fancher is an American actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker, who co-wrote the 1982 neo-noir science fiction film Blade Runner and its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. His 1999 directorial debut, The Minus Man, won the Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the Montreal World Film Festival.

<i>Aida</i> (musical) Musical by Elton John and Tim Rice

Aida is a musical based on the opera of the same name written by Antonio Ghislanzoni with music by Giuseppe Verdi. It has music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang, and was originally produced by Hyperion Theatricals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Gilroy</span> American screenwriter (born 1956)

Anthony Joseph Gilroy is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He wrote the screenplays for the original Bourne trilogy (2002–2007) and wrote and directed the fourth film of the franchise, The Bourne Legacy (2012). He also wrote and directed Michael Clayton (2007) and Duplicity (2009), earning nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the former.

Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for King of the Hill, The Critic and The Office, and has served as a screenwriter or consultant for several animated and live-action movies, including Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). He is one of the eleven writers of The Simpsons Movie and also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations Alvin and the Chipmunks, its sequel; and The Angry Birds Movie.

Michael Tollin is an American film and television producer/director who served as executive producer of the Emmy award-winning The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. The series received rave reviews and set numerous ratings records, being seen by nearly 15 million viewers per episode on ESPN and many million more on Netflix around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melissa Rosenberg</span> American screenwriter

Melissa Anne Rosenberg is an American television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She has worked in both film and television and has won a Peabody Award. She has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and two Writers Guild of America Awards. Since joining the Writers Guild of America, she has been involved in its board of directors and was a strike captain during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. She supports female screenwriters through the WGA Diversity Committee and co-founded the League of Hollywood Women Writers.

Dan Gordon is an Israeli-American writer, producer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mackenzie Browning</span> Soap opera character

Mackenzie Browning is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. The role was most recently portrayed by Kelly Kruger, who portrayed the role from February 19, 2002, to July 1, 2003, and from March 28, 2018, to January 11, 2019. Previously, the role was portrayed by Ashley Bashioum from 1999 to 2002 and 2004 to 2005, Nicole Tarantini temporarily in 2001, Rachel Kimsey from 2005 to 2006 and Clementine Ford from 2009 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Orloff</span> American screenwriter, television creator, and producer

John Orloff is an American screenwriter, television creator, and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Yang</span> American screenwriter, producer and director (born 1983)

Alan Michael Yang is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ansari, Yang co-created the Netflix series Master of None, which premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim. The series was awarded a Peabody Award, and at the 68th Emmy Awards in 2016, Yang and Ansari won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None and became the first writers of Asian descent to win in the category, which was also nominated in the Outstanding Comedy Series category. Yang also was the screenwriter of the 2014 comedy Date and Switch. In 2018, Yang co-created the Amazon Video series Forever.

Brian William Koppelman is an American television and film writer, producer and director. Koppelman is the co-writer of Ocean's Thirteen and Rounders, a producer of films including The Illusionist and The Lucky Ones, the director of films including Solitary Man and the documentary This Is What They Want for ESPN's 30 for 30 series, and the co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of Showtime's Billions and Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Ponsoldt</span> American film director, actor and screenwriter

James Ponsoldt is an American film director, actor and screenwriter. He directed the drama films Off the Black (2006) and Smashed (2012), the romantic comedy-drama The Spectacular Now (2013), and the dramas The End of the Tour (2015) and The Circle (2017).

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio are American screenwriters, collaborating on the screenplays for animated films including the Despicable Me franchise, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax and The Secret Life of Pets. The duo also served as the co-creators of the 2021 Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon!, with Paul also serving as the series songwriter and executive producer.

<i>Nautilus</i> (TV series) 2024 British adventure drama television series

Nautilus is a British ten-part adventure drama television miniseries created by James Dormer. It is a reimagining of Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, presenting an origin story for Captain Nemo, an Indian prince-turned-crusading scientist.

"You'd Be Surprised" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American period crime drama television series Boardwalk Empire. It is the 29th overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producers Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, and directed by executive producer Tim Van Patten. It was released on HBO on October 14, 2012.

References

  1. "Michael Norell". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
  2. "Sunday News from Lancaster, Pennsylvania - 25". Sunday News . October 28, 1973. p. 25.
  3. "Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey - Page 11". Courier-Post . October 15, 1973. p. 11.
  4. 1 2 Yokley, Richard; Sutherland, Rozane (2008). Emergency! Behind the Scene. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett. p. 53. ISBN   9780763748968 . Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  5. "Nominees / Winners 1990". Television Academy . Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  6. "Obituary for Michael Alden Norell at Haky/Georgiana Centre County Funeral Home". obits.heintzelmanfuneralhome.com. Archived from the original on 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-05-25.