Larry Gelbart, Hollywood Writer, Dead At 81

Larry Gelbart, the Hollywood writer, died at age 81 of cancer at his Los Angeles home today.

Perhaps best known for developing and writing for his hit 1970s and 1980s television sitcom MASH, Gelbart also wrote for Broadway and film, co-writing the Broadway musical "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" and the movie "Tootsie."

MASH was more than your average sitcom. With America's participation in the Vietnam War still continuing when the show started in 1972, it was a way to deal with the the ambiguities of a controversial war, Vietnam, by focusing on another murky Asian conflict in which the U.S. found itself immersed, Korea in the early 1950s.

The show was beloved by millions and its last episode "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" in 1983 was viewed by about 106 million, a record.

NPR's Felix Contreras reported the following for the network's newscast:

Larry Gelbart's days in television go all the way back to radio.

At the tender age of sixteen, he was a writer for "Duffy's Tavern" a radio comedy that included, among others, Bob Hope.

He followed Hope overseas to entertain troops and then moved on the television and Ceaser's Hour with comedian Sid Caeser.

In the mid 1960's he moved on to Broadway and earned a Tony as the coauthor of "A Funny Thing Happened ON The Way To The Forum".

 

Gelbart wrote more plays, then films and eventually returned to television in 1972.

For eleven seasons Gelbart's scripts for the hit television show MASH. evoked not just laughs but serious ruminations the wastefulness of war.