Buck Henry
Encyclopedia
Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry (born December 9, 1930), is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, and television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...

.

Early life

Henry was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of silent film actress Ruth Taylor
Ruth Taylor (actress)
Ruth Taylor was an American actress in silent films and early talkies. Her son is the writer Buck Henry.-Early years:Born Ruth Alice Taylor to Norman and Ivah Taylor in Grand Rapids, Michigan...

 and Paul Stuart Zuckerman (April 15, 1899–1965), a former Air Force general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 and stockbroker.

Buck Henry attended The Choate School
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...

 (now Choate Rosemary Hall) and 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...

, where he worked on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern
Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern
The Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern is a college humor magazine, founded at Dartmouth College in 1908.The Jacko publishes print issues approximately four times a year, as well as regularly updated online content and occasional video productions...

humor magazine. From 1959 to 1962, as part of an elaborate hoax by comedian Alan Abel
Alan Abel
Alan Abel is an American prankster, hoaxter, writer, mockumentary filmmaker, and jazz percussionist famous for several hoaxes that became media circuses.- Education and early career :...

, he pretended to be G. Clifford Prout, the quietly outraged president of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals
Society for Indecency to Naked Animals
The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, or SINA [pronounced "sinna"], was a satiric hoax perpetrated by comedian Alan Abel from 1959 to 1962. In 1959 Abel wrote a satirical story about this imaginary organization for The Saturday Evening Post but the editors rejected it...

, who presented his point of view on talk shows.

Television career

Henry's dry humor attracted attention in the entertainment community. He became a cast member on TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 programs such as The New Steve Allen Show
Steve Allen (comedian)
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent...

(1961) and That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...

(1964–65). He was a co-creator and writer for Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

(1965–70), with 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...

. Two of his TV projects had short runs but are fondly remembered by fans: Captain Nice
Captain Nice
Captain Nice was a comedy TV series that ran from January–May 1967 on NBC. Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved police chemist Carter Nash , a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when taken, transformed him into Captain...

(1967) with William Daniels
William Daniels
William David Daniels is an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild . He is known for his performance as Dustin Hoffman's father in The Graduate , as John Adams in 1776, as Carter Nash in Captain Nice, as Mr. George Feeny in ABC's Boy Meets World, as the voice of KITT in...

 as a reluctant superhero, and Quark
Quark (TV series)
Quark is an American science fiction situation comedy starring Richard Benjamin broadcast on NBC. The pilot first aired on May 7, 1977, and the series followed as a mid-season replacement in February 1978. The series was cancelled in April 1978. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of the...

(1978), with Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...

 in command of a garbage scow in outer space.

He appeared on the television show Will and Grace (2005).
He made two guest appearances on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

as a contributor in 2007. He has also appeared as Liz Lemon's father, Dick Lemon, in the 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...

episodes "Ludachristmas
Ludachristmas
"Ludachristmas" is the ninth episode of the second season of the television series 30 Rock and was first broadcast on December 13, 2007 on the NBC network in the United States. The episode was written by Tami Sagher and directed by Don Scardino...

" (December 13, 2007) and "Gentleman's Intermission
Gentleman's Intermission
"Gentleman's Intermission" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 86th overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer John Riggi and directed by series producer Don Scardino. The episode originally aired on the...

" (November 4, 2010).
He also appeared on "Hot In Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...

" in 2011 as Elka's Groom.
He also appeared on Tales From The Crypt.

Saturday Night Live

Henry hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

ten times, appearing first in 1976, and for the last time in 1980. It became a tradition in those four years that he hosted the last show of each season. Henry also hosted the only live remote attempted by SNL, broadcast live from Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

 in New Orleans. Henry's frequent host record would be broken when Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....

 hosted the 14th season finale in 1989. During the October 30, 1976 episode, Buck Henry was injured in the forehead by John Belushi's
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

 katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...

 in the samurai
Saturday Night Live Samurai
In the early years of Saturday Night Live, John Belushi portrayed a samurai -- he had a dedicated concept of honor, spoke only Japanese, and wielded a katana...

 sketch. Henry's head began to bleed and he was forced to wear a large bandage on his forehead for the rest of the show. As a gag, the members of the SNL cast each wore a bandage on their foreheads as well.

Recurring characters on SNL

  • Howard, a sadistic stunt coordinator
  • Marshall DiLaMuca, father of Bill Murray's character Todd in the Nerds
    Lisa Loopner
    "The Nerds" was a series of sketches on American sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. The protagonists of the sketch were Lisa Loopner and Todd DiLaMuca , whose repartée with one another would be the focus of the sketch, and regular character Mrs Loopner Lisa's mother, in whose home the...

     sketches
  • Mr. Dantley, the straight man and frequent customer to Samurai Futaba's (John Belushi
    John Belushi
    John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...

    ) many businesses.
  • Uncle Roy, a single, pedophilic babysitter who disguises his attempts at molesting his charges (played by Gilda Radner
    Gilda Radner
    Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

     and Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman
    Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

    ) as games.

Film and stage career

Henry has appeared in more than 40 films including Catch-22
Catch-22 (film)
Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...

, Taking Off
Taking Off (film)
Taking Off is a 1971 film comedy. It was Czech director Milos Forman's first American film. It tells the story of a group of parents whose children have run away from home...

, The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Man Who Fell to Earth (film)
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1976 British science fiction film directed by Nicolas Roeg.The film is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, about an extraterrestrial who crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought...

, Gloria, Eating Raoul
Eating Raoul
Eating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy about a married couple living in Hollywood who resort to killing swingers for their money. It was directed by Paul Bartel and written by Bartel and Richard Blackburn...

, Aria, The Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

, Tune In Tomorrow
Tune in Tomorrow
Tune In Tomorrow is a 1990 film comedy directed by John Amiel.It is based on the Mario Vargas Llosa novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and was released under that name in many countries...

, Defending Your Life
Defending Your Life
Defending Your Life is a 1991 romantic comedy/fantasy film about a man who must justify his lifelong fears and insecurities after he dies and arrives in the afterlife. The film was written, directed by, and stars Albert Brooks. It also stars Meryl Streep, Rip Torn and Lee Grant.The movie was filmed...

, The Player
The Player
The Player is a 1992 American satirical film directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own 1988 novel of the same name....

, and Grumpy Old Men. He co-directed Heaven Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)
Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...

, the 1978 remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Here Comes Mr. Jordan is a comedy film in which a boxer, mistakenly taken to Heaven before his time, is given a second chance back on Earth. It stars Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains and Evelyn Keyes. The movie was adapted by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller from the play Heaven Can Wait by Harry...

, and appeared in the film as an officious angel, reprising the character originally played by Edward Everett Horton
Edward Everett Horton
Edward Everett Horton was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. He is especially known for his work in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isabella...

.

His many writing credits include Candy
Candy (1968 film)
Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin...

, The Owl and the Pussycat
The Owl and the Pussycat (film)
The Owl and the Pussycat is a 1970 romantic comedy film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Barbra Streisand and George Segal. Barbra Streisand plays the role of a somewhat uneducated actress, model and part-time prostitute. She temporarily lives with an educated aspiring writer . Their...

, What's Up, Doc?
What's Up, Doc? (1972 film)
What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn...

, Catch-22
Catch-22 (film)
Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...

, The Day of the Dolphin
The Day of the Dolphin
The Day of the Dolphin is a 1973 American science-fiction thriller film directed by Mike Nichols and starring George C. Scott. Loosely based on the 1967 novel, Un animal doué de raison , by French writer Robert Merle, the screenplay was written by Buck Henry.-Plot:A brilliant and driven scientist,...

, Protocol
Protocol (film)
Protocol is a 1984 comedy film that starred Goldie Hawn and Chris Sarandon. The screenplay was by Buck Henry and it was directed by Herbert Ross....

, and To Die For
To Die For
To Die For is a 1995 dark comedy film, made in a mockumentary format, directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Buck Henry, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was based on the Pamela Smart story. It stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, and Joaquin Phoenix...

. He shared an Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nomination for his screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

, The Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

, a film in which he made a cameo appearance. In 1997, Henry was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...

's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

His Broadway
Broadway 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...

 credits include the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...

. Off-Broadway in July 2009, he starred opposite Holland Taylor
Holland Taylor
Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

 in Mother, a play by Lisa Ebersole.

Writing credits

  • The Troublemaker (1964) (with Theodore J. Flicker
    Theodore J. Flicker
    Theodore Jonas "Ted" Flicker is an American playwright, theatrical producer, television and film director, actor, screenwriter, author, and sculptor.-Early life:...

    )
  • Captain Nice
    Captain Nice
    Captain Nice was a comedy TV series that ran from January–May 1967 on NBC. Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved police chemist Carter Nash , a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when taken, transformed him into Captain...

    (1967) (TV)
  • The Graduate
    The Graduate
    The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

    (1967) (with Calder Willingham
    Calder Willingham
    Calder Baynard Willingham, Jr. was an American novelist and screenwriter. He cowrote several notable screenplays, including Paths of Glory and One-Eyed Jacks ....

    )
  • Candy
    Candy (1968 film)
    Candy is a 1968 sex farce film directed by Christian Marquand based on the 1958 novel by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, from a screenplay by Buck Henry. The film satirizes pornographic stories through the adventures of its naive heroine, Candy, played by Ewa Aulin...

    (1968)
  • Get Smart
    Get Smart
    Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

    (1965–1970) (TV; co-creator)
  • The Owl and the Pussycat
    The Owl and the Pussycat
    "The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871.- Background :Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds...

    (1970)
  • Catch-22
    Catch-22 (film)
    Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...

    (1970)
  • What's Up, Doc?
    What's Up, Doc? (1972 film)
    What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn...

    (1972) (with Peter Bogdanovich
    Peter Bogdanovich
    Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...

    , Robert Benton
    Robert Benton
    Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director.Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Benton has won numerous awards for both writing and...

     and David Newman
    David Newman (filmmaker)
    David Newman was an American filmmaker. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s he frequently collaborated with Robert Benton. He was married to fellow writer Leslie Newman, with whom he had two children, until the time of his death...

    )
  • The Day of the Dolphin
    The Day of the Dolphin
    The Day of the Dolphin is a 1973 American science-fiction thriller film directed by Mike Nichols and starring George C. Scott. Loosely based on the 1967 novel, Un animal doué de raison , by French writer Robert Merle, the screenplay was written by Buck Henry.-Plot:A brilliant and driven scientist,...

    (1973)
  • Quark
    Quark (TV series)
    Quark is an American science fiction situation comedy starring Richard Benjamin broadcast on NBC. The pilot first aired on May 7, 1977, and the series followed as a mid-season replacement in February 1978. The series was cancelled in April 1978. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of the...

    (1975) (TV)
  • Heaven Can Wait
    Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)
    Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...

    (1978) (co-director)
  • First Family
    First Family (film)
    First Family is an American film comedy released in 1980 starring Gilda Radner, Bob Newhart, and Madeline Kahn. It was written and directed by Buck Henry.-Plot summary:Manfred Link is the President of the United States...

    (1980; also director)
  • The New Show
    The New Show
    The New Show was a NBC sketch comedy show produced by Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, which ran for only one season from January 6 to March 23, 1984. Apart from being 60 minutes in length and entirely pre-recorded, the show is similar in format to SNL...

    (1984) (TV)
  • Protocol
    Protocol (film)
    Protocol is a 1984 comedy film that starred Goldie Hawn and Chris Sarandon. The screenplay was by Buck Henry and it was directed by Herbert Ross....

    (1984)
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

    (1985)
  • Trying Times (1989) (TV) (director)
  • To Die For
    To Die For
    To Die For is a 1995 dark comedy film, made in a mockumentary format, directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Buck Henry, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, which in turn was based on the Pamela Smart story. It stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, and Joaquin Phoenix...

    (1995)
  • Great Railway Journeys
    Great Railway Journeys
    Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television...

    (1996)
  • Town and Country (2001)

External links

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