Dick Clair

Dick Clair was born Richard Jones in San Francisco, California. He served in the military for two years from 1955 to 1957. He never married or had children. In the early 1970s, Clair performed husband-and-wife comedy routines for The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show with his writing partner Jenna McMahon. Clair was a screenwriter for episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show in addition to his Emmy Award winning writing for the comedy-variety TV program The Carol Burnett Show. With Jenna McMahon he wrote and produced the television sitcoms It's a Living, The Facts of Life, and Mama's Family. Clair was active as an early member of the Cryonics Society of California in the 1960s. In 1982 he contributed $20,000 to the cryonics organization Trans Time so that a husband and wife could remain cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. When he was hospitalized in 1988 he faced opposition from the hospital and the State of California concerning his desire for cryonics treatment. The ensuing court battle (Roe v. Mitchell, with Clair as "John Roe") ended victoriously, establishing the legal right of persons to be cryonically preserved in the state of California. Clair died on December 12, 1988, of multiple AIDS-related infections at the age of 57. He was cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. -from wikipedia

Works

The Facts of Life Reunion

After receiving two separate marriage proposals, Natalie asks the gang to reunite in Peekskill, NY.

Release Date: 2001-11-18

Department: Crew

Job: Creator

Vote Count: 2

Mama's Family

Thelma Harper and her spinster sister Fran open their home to Thelma's recently divorced son Vinton and his teenage son and daughter. It's quite an adjustment for everyone, especially the cranky, argumentative Thelma.

Release Date: 1983-01-22

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 46

Eunice

Moments in four different years in the lives of the Harper family beginning with 1955 as a hopeful Eunice prepares to go to a party, and her brother Phillip, a recent college graduate, departs for New York. In 1963, a married Eunice and her husband, Ed Higgins, help Mama welcome novelist Phillip home for a visit. In 1973, a divorced Eunice is living with Mama. In 1978, Eunice, Ellen, and Phillip return from Mama's funeral and Eunice makes a painful realization about her life.

Release Date: 1982-03-15

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character: Carl

It's a Living

It's a Living is an American sitcom set in a restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The show aired on ABC from October 30, 1980 until June 11, 1982. After the series was cancelled, new episodes aired in first-run syndication from September 28, 1985 to April 8, 1989. The series was created by Stu Silver, Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions, later in association with Golden West Television and Lorimar-Telepictures.

Release Date: 1980-10-30

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Vote Count: 11

Flo

Flo is an American sitcom which aired on CBS from 1980 to 1981. The series is a spin-off for Polly Holliday who portrayed the sassy and street-smart waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the sitcom Alice. Flo was cancelled at the end of its second season.

Release Date: 1980-03-21

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 3

A New Kind of Family

A New Kind of Family is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 1979 to January 1980. The series stars Eileen Brennan, Rob Lowe, and Telma Hopkins.

Release Date: 1979-09-16

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Episode Count: 11

Vote Count: 1

240-Robert

240-Robert is an American drama series that ran on ABC from 1979 to 1981. The series title is a reference to the call-sign designation for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's search and rescue/paramedic teams.

Release Date: 1979-08-28

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 2

The Facts of Life

Mrs. Edna Garrett, housemother and dietitian at the Eastland School, teaches a group of girls in her charge how to solve those problems that every teenager has to face.

Release Date: 1979-08-24

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Vote Count: 93

Carol Burnett & Company

Release Date: 1979-08-18

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 4

Vote Count: 3

The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank

A comedy-drama about a New York couple who decides to dump the hassle of the big city, pack up the kids and move to what they think is the easy life of suburbia.

Release Date: 1978-10-25

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

The story of the Cosgrove family on Christmas Eve in a New England town in the late 1890s.

Release Date: 1977-12-07

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Soap

The antics of a wealthy family, the Tates, and a working-class family, the Campbells, in the fictional town of Dunn's River, Connecticut.

Release Date: 1977-09-13

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 12

Vote Count: 60

The Bob Newhart Show

The Bob Newhart Show is an American situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired 142 original episodes on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychologist having to deal with his patients and fellow office workers. The show was filmed before a live audience.

Release Date: 1972-09-16

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character:

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 55

Maude

Well-educated and upper middle class, Maude Findlay is the archetypal feminist of her generation. She lives in suburban Tuckahoe, New York, with her fourth husband, Walter, their divorced daughter, Carol, and grandson Phillip.

Release Date: 1972-09-12

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 32

The Funny Side

The Funny Side is an American sketch comedy program that aired on NBC as part of its 1971 fall lineup.

Release Date: 1971-09-12

Character: Wealthy Husband

Episode Count: 14

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

30-year-old single Mary Richards moves to Minneapolis to start a new life after a romantic break-up. There she reacquaints with Phyllis who rents her a room, and meets her upstairs neighbor and new best friend Rhoda. Mary unexpectedly lands a job as associate producer at the TV station WJM, where she works alongside her bristly boss, Lou; the comical newswriter, Murray; and the newscast's often-incompetent anchor, Ted.

Release Date: 1970-09-19

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character:

Episode Count: 4

Vote Count: 70

The Rehearsal

The Rehearsal is a 1969 short comedy, written and directed by Stephen F. Verona. It is a humorous short where a director becomes frustrated with a quisitive actress during the rehearsal of a play. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

Release Date: 1969-10-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Character:

Vote Count: 4

The Barbara McNair Show

Release Date: 1969-09-13

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

My Mother the Car

The story of the relationship between a man and his mother, the latter having been reincarnated as a 1928 Porter automobile.

Release Date: 1965-09-14

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 7

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Release Date: 1962-10-01

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 71

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963. The series and several episode scripts were adapted from a 1951 collection of short stories of the same name, written by Max Shulman, who had also written a feature film adaptation of his short stories for MGM in 1953, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. The series revolved around the life of teenager/young adult Dobie Gillis, who, along with his best friend, beatnik Maynard G. Krebs, struggles against the forces of his life - high school, the military, college, and his parents - as he aspires to attain both wealth and dates with girls. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was produced by Martin Manulis Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Creator Shulman also wrote the theme song in collaboration with Lionel Newman.

Release Date: 1959-09-29

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 14

Kraft Music Hall

Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products. Their commercials were usually announced by "The Voice of Kraft", Ed Herlihy.

Release Date: 1958-10-08

Character: Self

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 5