James L. Brooks

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James L. Brooks
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James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American producer, writer, and film director.

He is best known for producing American television programs such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons, Rhoda and Taxi. His best-known film is Terms of Endearment, for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Brooks was raised in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. Brooks began his television career as a writer for CBS News from 1964 to 1966. After working for the ABC television series Room 222 as executive story editor, Brooks was hired along with writing partner Allan Burns by television executive Grant Tinker to create a show that would later become The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show became a critical and commercial success and spawned other television shows created by Brooks and Burns such as Rhoda, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, Taxi, The Associates, and Lou Grant.

In 1978, Brooks began work on feature motion films. His first project was being writer and co-producer on the film Starting Over and later wrote, produced and directed Terms of Endearment in 1983.

Brooks later started his own film and television production company, Gracie Films, in 1984. Gracie Films would produce the television series The Tracey Ullman Show and its spin-off, The Simpsons as well as the animated series The Critic. Gracie Films' notable film productions were Jerry Maguire, As Good as It Gets, Big, Bottle Rocket and Broadcast News.

Brooks had a cameo in one Simpsons episode (Season 14 Episode 13, A Star is Born-Again). He also played a semi-fictional version of himself in friend Albert Brooks's comedy Modern Romance as an opinionated film director.

[edit] Trivia

  • Brooks often sat in the studio audience of shows that he produced in the 1970s. Viewers can usually tell whether Brooks was in the audience by his distinctive loud guffaw. He would also make occasional cameo appearances.
  • On the Simpsons annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween episodes, Brooks is credited as "James Hell Brooks."
  • He appears on an episode of The Simpsons as an evil Hollywood producer.

[edit] Noted filmography

Preceded by:
Richard Attenborough
for Gandhi		 Academy Award for Best Director
1983
for Terms of Endearment		 Succeeded by:
Miloš Forman
for Amadeus

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Films Directed by James L. Brooks
Terms of Endearment | Broadcast News | I'll Do Anything | As Good as It Gets | Spanglish
Preceded by:
none		 (with Matt Groening and Sam Simon)
The Simpsons Showrunner
1989 – 1991		 Succeeded by:
Al Jean & Mike Reiss
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