Harry Ackerman
Encyclopedia
Harry Stephen Ackerman was an American TV executive producer
at Screen Gems
, the television division of Columbia Pictures
.
From 1958 through 1974, under the command of Ackerman as Vice President of Production, Screen Gems delivered the classic sitcoms: Father Knows Best
, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show
, Hazel
, Gidget
, Bewitched
, I Dream of Jeannie
, The Flying Nun
, The Monkees
, and The Partridge Family
.
Ackerman won two Emmy Awards for his work, and was the first producer ever honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters
at their 1974 luncheon.
For his work on television
, Ackerman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6661 Hollywood Blvd.
The Harry Ackerman Collection of personal papers was donated to the Dartmouth College
Library in 1994 as a gift from Ackerman's widow, actress Elinor Donahue. Harry Ackerman, a Class of 1935 graduate, was one of the most prolific producers in the history of television, having created or co-created and produced a total of twenty-one television series, seven of which were on the air simultaneously.
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
at Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
, the television division of Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
From 1958 through 1974, under the command of Ackerman as Vice President of Production, Screen Gems delivered the classic sitcoms: Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
, Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
, Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
, Gidget
Gidget
Gidget is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner in his 1957 novel, Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas. The novel follows the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfing friends on the beach at Malibu. The name Gidget is a portmanteau of "girl and midget"...
, Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
, I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
, The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios, which starred Sally Field as Sister Bertrille...
, The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
, and The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
.
Ackerman won two Emmy Awards for his work, and was the first producer ever honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters
Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters
Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters was founded in 1966 by veteran announcer Art Gilmore and 178 other original members, with Edgar Bergen as the founding chairman of the board...
at their 1974 luncheon.
For his work on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, Ackerman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6661 Hollywood Blvd.
The Harry Ackerman Collection of personal papers was donated to the Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
Library in 1994 as a gift from Ackerman's widow, actress Elinor Donahue. Harry Ackerman, a Class of 1935 graduate, was one of the most prolific producers in the history of television, having created or co-created and produced a total of twenty-one television series, seven of which were on the air simultaneously.