Early life Gelbart was born in Chicago, Illinois, to
Jewish immigrants Harry Gelbart, "a barber since his half of a childhood in
Latvia," and Frieda Sturner, from what is now
Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland), who migrated to the United States. Larry Gelbart had a sister, Marcia Gelbart Walkenstein. His family later moved to Los Angeles and he attended
Fairfax High School. Drafted into the
U.S. Army near the end of
World War II, Gelbart worked for the
Armed Forces Radio Service in Los Angeles. Attaining the rank of sergeant, Gelbart was honorably discharged after serving 1 year and 11 days. Those last 11 days prevented Gelbart from being drafted for service during the
Korean War.
Television Gelbart began as a writer at the age of sixteen for
Danny Thomas's
radio show after his father, who was Thomas's
barber, showed Thomas some jokes Gelbart had written. During the 1940s Gelbart also wrote for
Jack Paar and
Bob Hope. In the 1950s, his most important work in
television involved writing for
Red Buttons,
Sid Caesar on ''
Caesar's Hour'', and in
Celeste Holm's
Honestly, Celeste!, as well as with writers
Mel Tolkin,
Michael Stewart,
Selma Diamond,
Neil Simon,
Mel Brooks,
Carl Reiner and
Woody Allen on two Caesar specials. In 1972, Gelbart was one of the main forces behind the creation of the television series
M*A*S*H, writing the pilot (for which he received a "Developed for Television by __" credit); then producing, often writing and occasionally directing the series for its first four seasons, from 1972 to 1976.
M*A*S*H earned Gelbart a
Peabody Award and an
Emmy for
Outstanding Comedy Series and went on to considerable commercial and critical success.
Films Gelbart's best known screen work is perhaps the screenplay for 1982's
Tootsie, which he co-wrote with
Murray Schisgal. He was nominated for an Academy Award for that script, and also was Oscar-nominated for his adapted screenplay for 1977's
Oh, God! starring
John Denver and
George Burns. On his relationship with actor Dustin Hoffman in
Tootsie, Gelbart is reported to have said, "Never work with an Oscar-winner who is shorter than the statue". He later retracted this statement, saying it was just a joke. He collaborated with Burt Shevelove on the screenplay for the 1966 British film
The Wrong Box. Gelbart also co-wrote the golden-era film spoof
Movie Movie (1978) starring
George C. Scott in dual roles, the racy comedy
Blame It on Rio (1984) starring
Michael Caine and the 2000 remake of
Bedazzled with
Elizabeth Hurley and
Brendan Fraser. His script for
Rough Cut (1980), a caper film starring
Burt Reynolds,
Lesley-Anne Down and
David Niven, was credited under the pseudonym Francis Burns. Gelbart-scripted films for television included
Barbarians at the Gate (1993), a true story about the battle for control of the
RJR Nabisco corporation starring
James Garner that was based on
the best-selling book of that name; the original comedy
Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) starring
Ben Kingsley and
Gabriel Byrne as rival media moguls; and
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) starring
Antonio Banderas as the Mexican revolutionary leader.
Broadway Gelbart co-wrote the long-running
Broadway musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with
Burt Shevelove and
Stephen Sondheim in 1962. After the show received poor reviews and box-office returns during its previews in Washington, D.C., rewrites and restaging helped; it was a smash Broadway hit and ran for 964 performances. Its book won a
Tony Award. In a 1991 published edition of the musical, Gelbart wrote "it remains for me the best piece of work I've been lucky enough to see my name on." A film version starring
Zero Mostel and directed by
Richard Lester, was released in 1966. Gelbart was critical of the movie, as most of his and Shevelove's
libretto was largely rewritten. Gelbart's other Broadway credits include the musical
City of Angels, which won him the
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, the
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and an
Edgar Award and an off-Broadway musical,
In The Beginning, a satirical take on the Bible, with music and lyrics by
Maury Yeston. He also wrote the
Iran-Contra satire Mastergate, as well as
Sly Fox and a musical adaptation of the
Preston Sturges movie
Hail the Conquering Hero, whose grueling development inspired Gelbart to utter what evolved into the classic quip, "If
Hitler is alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical."
Memoirs In 1997, Gelbart published his memoir,
Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God! and a Few Other Funny Things.
Blogger Gelbart was a contributing blogger at
The Huffington Post, and also was a regular participant on the alt.tv.mash
Usenet newsgroup as "Elsig". (His user name was derived from
El for Larry,
si for Simon and
g for Gelbart.) ==Honors==