Years active 1949–2000 Name Leonard Stern | Role Screenwriter Children Michael Stern | |
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Full Name Leonard Bernard Stern Books Mad Libs, Best of Mad Libs, Star Wars Mad Libs Movies and TV shows McMillan & Wife, Get Smart, I'm Dickens - He's Fens, The Nude Bomb, Just You and Me - Kid Similar People Roger Price, Buck Henry, Julie Adams, Daniel Melnick, Gloria Stroock | ||
Leonard Bernard Stern (December 23, 1923 – June 7, 2011) was an American screenwriter, film and television producer, director, and one of the creators, with Roger Price, of the classic word game Mad Libs.
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Life and career
Stern was born in New York City. He studied at New York University. Stern was a successful television writer who wrote for such now classic series such as Get Smart, The Honeymooners, The Phil Silvers Show, The Steve Allen Show and Tonight Starring Steve Allen.
Stern was also a writer for the 1952 Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee version of The Jazz Singer and several Abbott and Costello films, among others. In the 1970s, he produced and directed the TV series McMillan & Wife, which starred Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James.
Stern was the senior vice president of Price Stern Sloan (PSS). In 2000, after Price's death, Stern and another partner, Larry Sloan, launched another publishing company, Tallfellow Press, and acquired the rights to Droodles. Stern co-wrote, with Diane L. Robinson, A Martian Wouldn't Say That (2000), a compilation of actual memos and notes from television executives.
Death
On June 7, 2011, Stern died of heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 87. He was survived by his wife of 55 years, actress Gloria Stroock, as well as a son, daughter, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.