Gail Parent(born August 12, 1940) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author.
Gail Parent | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gail Kostner August 12, 1940 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter,television producer |
Life and career
editParent was bornGail Kostnerin New York City, New York, the daughter of Ruth (née Goldberg) and Theodore Kostner, a Wall Street executive.[1]Parent is Jewish.[2]Parent's writing career began in the 1960s where she teamed up with writer Kenny Solms. Her big break came when she began writing forThe Carol Burnett Show.She later went on to write for other TV shows including a 1971 episode ofThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.The following year her novelSheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York,which chronicled its unattractive, overweight,Jewishheroine's romantic misadventures in Manhattan, became a best-seller that later served as thebasis of a filmstarringJeannie Berlin.Although thescreenplaywas adapted by someone else, she penned the scripts forBarbra Streisand'sThe Main Event(1979) andConfessions of a Teenage Drama Queen(2004).
Parent co-wrote the book for the 1974 musicalLorelei.It is her soleBroadwaycredit.
Parent's greatest success has been in television, most notably withThe Golden GirlsandTracey Ullman'ssketch comedyseriesTracey Takes On...,serving as a producer and writer for both. She also wrote episodes ofThe Smothers Brothers Show,The Carol Burnett Show,Rhoda,Steven Spielberg'sAmazing Stories,Babes(of which she also served as series creator) andFinder of Lost Loves,and themusical varietyspecialSillsandBurnettat theMet(1976). With Ann Marcus, she co-created the 1976-77 soap opera satireMary Hartman, Mary Hartman.WithKenny Solms,she created the 1970 situation comedyThe Tim Conway Show.During the 1990-91 television season, Parent and Los Angeles newscasterKelly Langeco-hosted theKelly and Gailtalk show which aired onKNBC-TV.[3]
Parent is the winner of aCableACE Awardand twoEmmys,and has been nominated for an additional twelve Emmys and twoWriters Guild of America Awards.
References
edit- ^"Gail Parent Biography (1940-)".Filmreference.com.Retrieved2012-08-25.
- ^June Sochen (1 February 2012).Consecrate Every Day: The Public Lives of Jewish American Women, 1880-1980.SUNY Press. p. 90.ISBN978-1-4384-2061-5.
Gail Parent, a good example of this approach, can never rid herself of the Jewish parents...
- ^KELLY & GAIL Talk Show: Best of Moments!.Gail Parent.RetrievedMarch 26,2023– via YouTube.