James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks
Born	May 9, 1940 (1940-05-09) (age 69) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Spouse(s)	Holly Beth Holmberg (1978-1999)[1] Marianne Catherine Morrissey (m. 1964)
Official website
Awards won Academy Awards Best Director 1983 Terms of Endearment Best Picture 1983 Terms of Endearment Best Adapted Screenplay 1983 Terms of Endearment Emmy Awards Outstanding Comedy Series 1975, 1976, 1977 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1979, 1980, 1981 Taxi Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series 1971, 1977 The Mary Tyler Moore Show Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program 1989 The Tracey Ullman Show Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1990 The Tracey Ullman Show Outstanding Animated Program 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008 The Simpsons Golden Globe Awards Best Screenplay 1984 Terms of Endearment Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy 1998 As Good as it Gets

James L. Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American producer, screenwriter and director. He is known for producing television programs such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Simpsons (in which he created miscellaneous characters, including the Bouvier family), Rhoda and Taxi. His best-known film is Terms of Endearment, for which he received three Academy Awards in 1984. For his various television shows he has been awarded nineteen Primetime Emmys. He has also won two Golden Globe Awards.

Biography

Personal life

Brooks was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Dorothy Helen (née Sheinheit) and Edward M. Brooks.^[2] He was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey in a Jewish family.^[3] Brooks has donated over $175,000 to Democratic Party candidates.^[4]

Career

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. 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.

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 The Simpsons episode "A Star Is Born-Again". He also played a semi-fictional version of himself in friend Albert Brooks' comedy Modern Romance as an opinionated film director.

Brooks mentored Cameron Crowe and was the executive producer of Crowe's directorial debut Say Anything.... Crowe recalled later in an interview of the film's anniversary that he approached Brooks and told him about these ideas he had. Upon hearing this, Brooks encouraged Crowe to keep writing. Brooks also mentored Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson after they brought Bottle Rocket to his attention. Owen believes they wouldn't have gotten the film made if it wasn't for Brooks' help. In 2007, Brooks appeared -- along with star Hollywood screenwriters Nora Ephron, Carrie Fisher, and others -- in Dreams on Spec, a documentary about filmmaking. Brooks is one of the few people thanked during the end credits for the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Filmography

• My Three Sons (1960)
• The Andy Griffith Show (1960)
• My Mother The Car (1965) (writer)
• Mary Tyler Moore (1970) (producer)
• Rhoda (1974) (producer)
• Thursday's Game (1974) (Writer-Producer)
• Taxi (1978) (producer)
• Terms of Endearment (1983) (director) (writer) (producer)
• The Tracey Ullman Show (1987) (producer)
• Broadcast News (1987) (director) (writer) (producer)
• Big (1988) (producer)
• Say Anything... (1989) (producer)
• The Simpsons (1989-present) (executive producer)
• I'll Do Anything (1994) (director) (writer) (producer)
• The Critic (1994) (executive producer)
• Bottle Rocket (1996) (producer)
• Jerry Maguire (1996) (producer)
• As Good as It Gets (1997) (director) (writer) (producer)
• Spanglish (2004) (director) (writer) (producer)
• The Simpsons Movie (2007) (producer) (screenplay)

Further reading

• "BROOKS, JAMES L. entry". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on June 9, 2005.
• "James L Brooks Biography". All Movies Guide & Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved on June 9, 2005.

References

External links

• James L. Brooks at the Internet Movie Database
• Gracie Films Website