Steve Krantz

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Stephen Falk Krantz (May 20, 1923 – January 4, 2007) was a film producer and writer who was most active from 1966 to 1996.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Steve Krantz graduated from Columbia University and went on to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War II as a second lieutenant.

He worked as a comedy writer for Milton Berle and Steve Allen. Later years were devoted to the production of animated cartoons including Rocket Robin Hood and the 1960s version of Spider-Man. When teamed with director Ralph Bakshi, the results were often controversial, as in Fritz the Cat (1972), the first X-rated full-length animated film, based on R. Crumb's sex-obsessed cartoon feline.

By 1968, he was producing live-action shows, and after 1974 live-action motion pictures dominated his filmography. He wrote two novels, including Laurel Canyon, which was a best-seller.

He married Judith Tarcher, who became the noted American writer Judith Krantz, on February 19, 1954; they had two sons, Tony and Nicholas.

He died in Los Angeles, California, on January 4, 2007 from complications of pneumonia. He was 83 at the time of his death.