Gary David Goldberg
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Gary David Goldberg (born June 25, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American writer and producer for television and film. After a prolonged and checkered collegiate career, which began at Brandeis University in 1962 . His college career ended at San Diego State University in 1975 (with many other schools in between). During this period he also spent some time abroad in Israel and europe, during which he tried on some acting, starring as the lead charachter in the adventures of scooterman, an english-teaching series produced by Israeli Educational Television.in 1975 he moved to Hollywood to try to make it as a writer
In 1976 he landed his first “real” job at MTM as a writer for The Bob Newhart Show. Remaining at MTM, he moved over to become story editor and then producer of The Tony Randall Show, and then in 1978, producer of Lou Grant. In 1980 he created and executive produced “The Last Resort,” also for MTM.
In 1981, Goldberg left MTM to form his own company, UBU Productions, famous for their closing of "Sit, Ubu, sit - good dog." Ubu Roi was Goldberg's dog in college. Under this banner, nine television series have been created, including the enormously successful Family Ties, which ran on NBC 1982-1989, and the critically acclaimed Brooklyn Bridge which aired on CBS 1991-1993. In association with DreamWorks, UBU produced Spin City which ran for six seasons on ABC.
Goldberg has been the recipient of numerous honors during his career, including an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe as co-producer of “Lou Grant” and an Emmy Award as writer of the “Family Ties” episode “ ‘A,’ My Name is Alex”; five additional Emmy nominations for “Lou Grant” and “Family Ties”; a Peabody for “Lou Grant”; two Writers Guild Awards, one for an episode of M*A*S*H. and another for the “ ‘A,’ My Name is Alex” episode of “Family Ties”; five Writers Guild nominations for episodes of “Lou Grant,” “Making the Grade,” and “Family Ties”; five Humanitas Awards for “Lou Grant,” and “Family Ties,” as well as five additional Humanitas nominations, the Producers Guild Award as Producer of the Year in 1991 and the Valentine Davies Award from the Writers Guild in 1998 for his contributions to the entertainment industry and the community-at-large. In 2002 he won the Award of Excellence at Banff’s World Television Festival. And, in 2003 he was honored with the Outstanding Television Writer Award at the Austin Film Festival. Goldberg is a member of the Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame.
During its run, “Brooklyn Bridge” received several honors--a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series, one Humanitas Prize and an additional Humanitas nomination for enriching television, a Christopher Award, two Viewers For Quality Television awards for Best Comedy, and eight Emmy nominations.
In 1989, Goldberg made his feature film debut when he produced and directed Universal Pictures’ Dad, starring Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson and Olympia Dukakis. He also wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by William Wharton. His second feature film, Bye Bye Love, starred Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine, and Randy Quaid, as three divorced fathers on a weekend when they all have custody of their children.
In August of 2005 Warner Bros. released Must Love Dogs starring Diane Lane and John Cusack which Goldberg wrote and directed, adapting the Claire Cook novel of the same name.
Gary Goldberg is married to Dr. Diana Meehan. They have two children, Shana and Cailin. Shana wrote and produced many episodes of the popular sitcom Friends.
In 2008, Goldberg published an autobiography entitled "Sit, Ubu, Sit : How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair."
