Carl Gottlieb
| Carl Gottlieb | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 18, 1938 New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, screenwriter |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1966–present |
| Genre | Comedy, thriller |
| Notable works | Jaws |
Carl Gottlieb (born March 18, 1938) is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian and executive. He is probably best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws and its first two sequels, and The Jerk, with Steve Martin, as well as co-writing and directing the 1981 comedy film Caveman.
Early life
Gottlieb was born and raised in New York City, educated in the city's public school system. After studying drama at Syracuse University, he became a member, in the 1960s, of the San Francisco improvisational comedy troupe "The Committee". They made one feature film: A Session with the Committee, toured extensively, and played in Los Angeles 1968-70.
Career
He began writing comedy for TV, contributing to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for which he won an Emmy Award in 1969, The Music Scene, The Bob Newhart Show, All in the Family, and The Odd Couple. Minor acting roles have included Robert Altman's M*A*S*H and the film Clueless.
Gottlieb also cowrote David Crosby's two autobiographies, 1989's Long Time Gone and 2006's Since Then.
Jaws
Gottlieb was hired as an actor to appear as Harry Meadows, the editor of the local newspaper, in Jaws. He was hired by his friend, Steven Spielberg, to redraft the script, adding more dimensions to the characters, particularly humour. Ironically, his redrafts reduced the role of Meadows (who still appears in the Town Hall corridor and the Tiger Shark scene).
He wrote a book, The Jaws Log, about the notoriously difficult production of the film. Bryan Singer has referred to it as being "like a little movie director bible".[1]
He was enlisted under similar circumstances to work on the Jaws 2 screenplay. He co-wrote the screenplays for The Jerk and Jaws 3-D. Gottlieb contributes to Jaws related activities, such as interviews (including the documentary The Shark Is Still Working) and attended JawsFest on Martha's Vineyard in June 2005.
Writers' politics
He joined the Writers Guild of America in 1968 after becoming interested in Guild politics and with a desire to serve fellow writers following writers' strikes in the 1970s and 1981. He ran for the Board of Directors in 1983, and was re-elected for numerous terms thereafter, including two stints as vice-president (1991–1994). He was again appointed VP of the Writers Guild of America, West in 2004[2] and served until the following year.[3] In September 2011, he was elected as WGA-West Secretary-Treasurer.[4]