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Stanley Shapiro
Stanley Shapiro
	Stanley Shapiro and sister
Born	July 16, 1925; Brooklyn, New York
Died	July 21, 1990 (aged 65); Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	Writer, screenwriter
Years active	1953–88

Stanley Shapiro (July 16, 1925 – July 21, 1990) was an American screenwriter and producer responsible for three of Doris Day's most successful films.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shapiro earned his first screen credit for South Sea Woman in 1953. His work for Day earned him Oscar nominations for Lover Come Back and That Touch of Mink and a win for Pillow Talk, and Mink won him the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy, which he shared with his partner Nate Monaster.^[1]

Life and career

Shapiro was born and raised in Brooklyn. He was Jewish.^[2] He dropped out of Brooklyn College and began selling jokes to comedians. He eventually wrote for Fred Allen on radio and then for George Burns and Gracie Allen. He followed Burns and Allen to Hollywood and worked on their television show.^[3]

He produced the first season of Ray Bolger's ABC sitcom, Where's Raymond?, and was replaced in the second season by Paul Henning, as the series was renamed The Ray Bolger Show.^[4]

Additional writing credits include Operation Petticoat, Come September, Bedtime Story, Me, Natalie, For Pete's Sake, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Carbon Copy.

"Although I find social institutions, manners, customs and prejudices a bit ridiculous, I do not regard them as a satirist", he told an interviewer in 1962. "I am a humorist. Will Rogers was a satirist, Laurel and Hardy were humorists. Believe me, humor is much harder to write. It was a lot easier for Will Rogers to get a laugh by doing a pun about the Government than it was for Laurel and Hardy to figure out a routine on how to move a piano manually from the basement to the fifth floor."^[5]

Shapiro's last project was the television movie Running Against Time, based on his novel A Time to Remember. Broadcast four months after his death from leukemia in Los Angeles, it was dedicated to his memory.^[6]

Shapiro died on July 21, 1990, five days after his 65th birthday.

Select credits

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) (TV series) – pilot – writer
South Sea Woman (1953) – writer
Where's Raymond? (1954–55) (TV series) – writer, producer
Hey, Jeannie! (1956–57) (TV series) – writer
Strictly for Pleasure (1958) – writer
The Real McCoys (1958) (TV series) – writer
Pillow Talk (1959) – writer
Operation Petticoat (1959) – writer
McGarry and His Mouse (1960) (TV movie) – writer, producer
The Tab Hunter Show (1960–61) – creator, producer
Come September (1961) – writer
Lover Come Back (1961) – writer, producer
That Touch of Mink (1962) – writer, producer
The Comedy Spot (TV series) (1962) (TV series) – episode "For the Love of Mike"
Bedtime Story (1964) – writer, producer
A Very Special Favor (1965) – writer, producer
How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968) – writer, producer
Me, Natalie (1969) – writer, producer
For Pete's Sake (1974) – writer, producer
The Best of Times (1974) (TV movie)
The Seniors (1978) – writer, producer
Carbon Copy (1981) – writer, producer
The Ferret (1984) (TV movie)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Running Against Time (1990) (TV movie) (book "A Time to Remember") / (teleplay)
The Hustle (2019) remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Other writings

"The Engagement Baby" (1970) – play
"Simon's Soul" (1977) – novel
"A Time to Remember" (1986) – novel

References

^ Oliver, M. (July 22, 1990). "Stanley shapiro, 65; producer, oscar-winning screenwriter". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 280990752.
^ "Jews in the News: Chuck Lorre, Dave Franco and Billy Crystal".
^ MURRAY SCHUMACH (March 19, 1962). "FILM WRITER SEES A LACK OF HUMOR". New York Times. ProQuest 115720472.
^ "Where's Raymond?/The Ray Bolger Show". ctva.biz. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
^ AP. (July 24, 1990). "Stanley shapiro, 65; 'pillow talk' script won him an oscar". New York Times. ProQuest 427720627.
^ Ap (July 24, 1990). "Stanley Shapiro, 65; 'Pillow Talk' Script Won Him an Oscar (Published 1990)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 25, 2021.