Bernie West
Encyclopedia
Bernie West was an American
television writer
best known for his work in sitcoms
such as All in the Family
, its spinoff The Jeffersons
and Three's Company
.
, earning a Bachelor of Business Science
in advertising
. West worked as a nightclub comedian, and performed on tour with the U.S.O.
in the Pacific Theatre after being rejected from the military based on medical issues. As part of the comedy duo Ross & West, he toured the hotel circuit in the Catskills and Poconos with Ross Martin
, quipping, "Everything we did may not have been original, but what we stole was good!" After Martin left, he was replaced by Mickey Ross
, a college friend of West's who changed his name from Isadore Rovinsky so that the comedy duo could retain the Ross & West name.
in the 1956 production of Bells Are Ringing
, creating the role of Dr. Kitchell, the song-writing dentist on stage and appearing in the 1960 film version
starring Judy Holliday
and Dean Martin
. He also appeared in 1962's All American by Mel Brooks
and starring Ray Bolger
, Poor Bitos with Donald Pleasence
, The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr
and the 1969 production of The Front Page
alongside Helen Hayes
. He appeared on television on The Ed Sullivan Show
and The Phil Silvers Show
.
's All in the Family, working with another partner, Don Nicholl
, as producers. West won an Emmy Award
in 1973 for his writing on the episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers", together with Ross and Lee Kalcheim
. The writing team created the character played by Bea Arthur as the lead in the All in the Family spinoff Maude
. The trio wrote and produced The Jeffersons, another spinoff from All in the Family that ran for decade starting in 1975. In 1977 they created Three's Company, which ran until 1984, as well as that show's less-successful spinoffs The Ropers
and Three's a Crowd
.
Together with his wife Mimi, who died in April 2004, West was a generous contributor to the Los Angeles Free Clinic. She had first discovered the Free Clinic after driving her husband to his job writing for All in the Family. West regularly contributed a portion of his salary while his wife worked there without pay. In 1997, the couple donated $500,000 towards the provision of pediatric dental care for those children without access to dentists.
West died at age 92 on July 29, 2010, at his home in Beverly Hills, California
due to complications
of Alzheimer's disease
. He is survived by two daughters and two grandsons.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television writer
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
best known for his work in sitcoms
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
such as All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
, its spinoff The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The show was produced by the T.A.T. Communications Company from 1975–1982 and by Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
and Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
.
Biography
Born on May 30, 1918, in the Bronx as Bernard Wessler, he earned his undergraduate degree from Baruch CollegeBaruch College
Bernard M. Baruch College, more commonly known as Baruch College, is a constituent college of the City University of New York, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, New York City. With an acceptance rate of just 23%, Baruch is among the most competitive and diverse colleges in the nation...
, earning a Bachelor of Business Science
Bachelor of Business Science
The Bachelor of Business Science is a four year Honours level degree providing for a scientifically based study of economic and management sciences. The degree is offered in South Africa, and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.-Structure:...
in advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
. West worked as a nightclub comedian, and performed on tour with the U.S.O.
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
in the Pacific Theatre after being rejected from the military based on medical issues. As part of the comedy duo Ross & West, he toured the hotel circuit in the Catskills and Poconos with Ross Martin
Ross Martin
Ross Martin was a Polish-born American Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr...
, quipping, "Everything we did may not have been original, but what we stole was good!" After Martin left, he was replaced by Mickey Ross
Michael Ross (screenwriter)
Michael "Mickey" Ross was an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and television producer. Ross, together with writing partners Don Nicholl and Bernard West, were writers/producers for All in the Family, for which Ross won an Emmy in 1973, The Jeffersons and Three's Company...
, a college friend of West's who changed his name from Isadore Rovinsky so that the comedy duo could retain the Ross & West name.
Broadway
West appeared on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in the 1956 production of Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
, creating the role of Dr. Kitchell, the song-writing dentist on stage and appearing in the 1960 film version
Bells Are Ringing (film)
Bells Are Ringing is a 1960 romantic comedy-musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli. It stars Judy Holliday and Dean Martin.-Synopsis:Based on the successful 1956 Broadway production of the same name by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne, the film focuses on Ella Peterson, who works in...
starring Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday was an American actress.Holliday began her career as part of a night-club act, before working in Broadway plays and musicals...
and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
. He also appeared in 1962's All American by Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and starring Ray Bolger
Ray Bolger
Raymond Wallace "Ray" Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hank in The Wizard of Oz.-Early life:...
, Poor Bitos with Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
, The Beauty Part with Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr
Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage...
and the 1969 production of The Front Page
The Front Page
The Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
alongside Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
. He appeared on television on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
.
Television work
After submitting a script for the show in 1971, West and partner Mickey Ross became writers for Norman LearNorman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
's All in the Family, working with another partner, Don Nicholl
Don Nicholl
Donald "Don" Nicholl was an English-American screenwriter and producer. His production company Nicholl Ross West produced the sitcoms All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Three's Company, and The Ropers.Nicholl was born in Sunderland, England...
, as producers. West won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1973 for his writing on the episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers", together with Ross and Lee Kalcheim
Lee Kalcheim
Lee Kalcheim is an American Emmy Award-winning screenwriter.Kalcheim has written numerous television shows including episodes for:* The Paper Chase * All in the Family * N.Y.P.D...
. The writing team created the character played by Bea Arthur as the lead in the All in the Family spinoff Maude
Maude (TV series)
Maude was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 22, 1978.Maude starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, middle-aged, politically liberal woman living in suburban Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York with...
. The trio wrote and produced The Jeffersons, another spinoff from All in the Family that ran for decade starting in 1975. In 1977 they created Three's Company, which ran until 1984, as well as that show's less-successful spinoffs The Ropers
The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC. The series is a spinoff of Three's Company and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred...
and Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd is an American television sitcom spinoff of Three's Company...
.
Together with his wife Mimi, who died in April 2004, West was a generous contributor to the Los Angeles Free Clinic. She had first discovered the Free Clinic after driving her husband to his job writing for All in the Family. West regularly contributed a portion of his salary while his wife worked there without pay. In 1997, the couple donated $500,000 towards the provision of pediatric dental care for those children without access to dentists.
West died at age 92 on July 29, 2010, at his home in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
due to complications
Complication (medicine)
Complication, in medicine, is an unfavorable evolution of a disease, a health condition or a medical treatment. The disease can become worse in its severity or show a higher number of signs, symptoms or new pathological changes, become widespread throughout the body or affect other organ systems. A...
of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. He is survived by two daughters and two grandsons.