Susan Harris
Encyclopedia
Susan Harris is an American television
comedy
writer
and producer
.
Harris created numerous TV series: Soap
, Benson
, The Golden Girls
, Empty Nest, Nurses
, and The Golden Palace
.
She also wrote or co-wrote all of the episodes of Soap and appeared on two episodes of that show as a hooker named Babette. Her most successful show was The Golden Girls. Harris married television producer Paul Junger Witt
on September 18, 1983; he co-produced all the shows she created. She was married from 1965 to 1969 to the late actor Berkeley Harris.
The first script Harris sold was Then Came Bronson
. She then wrote for Love, American Style
, All in the Family
, The Partridge Family
and the TV adaptation of Neil Simon
's Barefoot in the Park. Her abortion
episode for the Bea Arthur-starring series Maude
in the 1970s won Harris the Humanitas Prize
. She would later work with Arthur again in the 1980s when Arthur took one of the lead roles in The Golden Girls.
Harris has chronic fatigue syndrome
, which affected her ability to participate in the production of The Golden Girls. In an episode of that show entitled "Sick and Tired" (1989), Harris wrote some of her struggles into the storyline where Arthur's character Dorothy was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. She was honored with the Writers' Guild's Paddy Chayefsky
Award in 2005.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
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....
and producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
.
Harris created numerous TV series: Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
, Benson
Benson (TV series)
Benson is an American television sitcom which aired from September 13, 1979, to April 19, 1986, on ABC. The series was a spin-off from the soap opera parody Soap ; however, Benson discarded the...
, The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
, Empty Nest, Nurses
Nurses (TV series)
Nurses is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1991 to 1994, developed and produced by Susan Harris as a spin-off of Empty Nest .-Synopsis:...
, and The Golden Palace
The Golden Palace
The Golden Palace is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1992, to May 14, 1993. The show was a spin-off and continuation of the sitcom The Golden Girls....
.
She also wrote or co-wrote all of the episodes of Soap and appeared on two episodes of that show as a hooker named Babette. Her most successful show was The Golden Girls. Harris married television producer Paul Junger Witt
Paul Junger Witt
Paul Junger Witt is an American film and television producer. He, with his partners Tony Thomas and Susan Harris , produced such hit TV shows as Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls, Soap, Benson, Empty Nest and Blossom...
on September 18, 1983; he co-produced all the shows she created. She was married from 1965 to 1969 to the late actor Berkeley Harris.
The first script Harris sold was Then Came Bronson
Then Came Bronson
Then Came Bronson is a short-lived adventure/drama television series that aired on NBC from 1969 to 1970, and was produced by MGM Television. The series, created by Denne Bart Petitclerc, began with a movie pilot on Monday, March 24, 1969. The series was greenlit for one year and began its first...
. She then wrote for Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
, 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...
, 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...
and the TV adaptation of Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's Barefoot in the Park. Her abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
episode for the Bea Arthur-starring series 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...
in the 1970s won Harris the Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
. She would later work with Arthur again in the 1980s when Arthur took one of the lead roles in The Golden Girls.
Harris has chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome is the most common name used to designate a significantly debilitating medical disorder or group of disorders generally defined by persistent fatigue accompanied by other specific symptoms for a minimum of six months, not due to ongoing exertion, not substantially...
, which affected her ability to participate in the production of The Golden Girls. In an episode of that show entitled "Sick and Tired" (1989), Harris wrote some of her struggles into the storyline where Arthur's character Dorothy was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. She was honored with the Writers' Guild's Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
Award in 2005.