Harry Ackerman

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Harry Ackerman
Born
Harry Stephen Ackerman

(1912-11-17)November 17, 1912
Albany, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 3, 1991(1991-02-03) (aged 78)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouses
Mary Leone Dennis (Shipp)
​
​
(m. 1939, divorced)​
​
(m. 1962)​

Harry Stephen Ackerman (November 17, 1912 – February 3, 1991) was an American television producer, credited with creating or co-creating twenty-one series, seven of which were at one time being broadcast simultaneously. Some of the

sitcoms in which he was involved in production during the 1950s and 1960s are also among the most popular American shows in the early history of the “small screen”, such as Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Leave It to Beaver, The Farmer's Daughter, Hazel, Bewitched, The Flying Nun, and Gidget
.

Ackerman was known in the entertainment industry as the “dean of television comedy”, although he was instrumental too in developing many dramatic classics and documentaries, such as

The 20th Century.[1]

Early life and education

Harry Ackerman was born in Albany, New York and attended Dartmouth College as a theater arts major.[2][1]

Career

Ackerman began his career as a writer, but soon became a radio performer, appearing as the comic poet Wilbur W. Willoughby Jr.

Young & Rubicam.[2] In 1946 he became vice president of program operations.[1]

Ackerman began his career in television at

The Jack Benny Show, Burns and Allen, Amos 'n' Andy, Our Miss Brooks, and many other shows.[2] Ackerman was CBS-TV west coast program vice president from 1948 to 1958.[1]

He began his own production company, Harry Ackerman Productions,

Bachelor Father (for Universal), Leave It to Beaver (for Universal), Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, Hazel, Grindl, Gidget, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun, The Monkees, and The Partridge Family.[4]

In the late 1940s, before coming to Hollywood, he was involved in the beginnings of the

Westinghouse Studio One dramatic radio anthologies.[2]

Honors

Ackerman won two

Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters at that organization's 1974 luncheon. He was also the national president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for two terms; and in recognition of his many contributions to the entertainment industry during his career, a star dedicated to him was installed in 1985 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6661 Hollywood Boulevard.[1]

Personal life and legacy

Ackerman was married twice. His second marriage, to actress Elinor Donahue, who was 25 years younger, was in 1962 at the Court of Liberty. He was the adoptive father of her son from her first marriage (to Richard Smith), and he and Donahue had three sons together.[5]

Ackerman in 1991 died of “

pulmonary failure” at age 78 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.[2] He is buried in the Garden of Heritage at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.[6]

Three years later, as a memorial to her husband and to serve as an important resource for research on the history of American television, Elinor Donahue donated the Harry Ackerman Collection of personal papers to the Rauner Library at Dartmouth College.[7] Ackerman was an alumnus of Dartmouth, class of 1935.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Harry Ackerman". Variety. February 11, 1991. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  2. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  3. ^ "Program Briefs" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 17, 1973. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  4. ISSN 0458-3035
    . Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  5. ^ "Catching Up with Elinor Donahue". Star Trek Discovery. CBS Entertainment. May 24, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  6. ^ Resting Places: The Burial Places of 14,000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson
  7. ^ a b “Harry Ackerman papers, 1928-1990”, Rauner Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Retrieved November 24, 2018.

External links

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