Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time
(A rich entertainment resource, the book features a hilari...)
A rich entertainment resource, the book features a hilarious memoir, and scores of rare photos, three never-before-published scripts, plus links to web-based audio of Lucy's classic radio comedy performances, unheard for more than 40 years!
Gregg Oppenheimer is an American lawyer, author, and producer. He is primarily known as a renovator of his father's best-known sitcoms, such as I Love Lucy.
Background
Gregg Oppenheimer was born on March 8, 1951, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is a son of Jess Oppenheimer, a comedy writer, producer, and director for radio and television, and Estelle Oppenheimer, a homemaker. Gregg has an elder sister Joanne.
Education
Gregg Oppenheimer received a Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. It was followed by a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (also known as Boalt Hall, Berkeley Law, or UC Berkeley School of Law) three years later.
Gregg Oppenheimer started his law practice as an attorney at the international law firm O'Melveny & Myers which he joined in 1977. By 1986, Oppenheimer became its partner. He held both positions till 1996.
It was his father's death that pushed Gregg to take an active part at the finalization of his memoirs, especially on the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. During the course of time, Oppenheimer abandoned his law practice completely and concentrated on writing. The first volume, 'Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time', was issued by Syracuse University Press in 1996.
Two years later, Gregg tried his hand as a producer and director by producing a live-on-stage renovation of Lucy's sitcom, 'Lucy's First Sitcom: A 50th Anniversary Reunion', that gathered many old participants of the sitcom, such as Marilu Henner, Jeff Conaway, Harold Gould, and Alley Mills. Since then, other renewed versions of many classical radio shows were presented to the public.
In 2014, Dezart Performs theatre company invited Gregg Oppenheimer to direct On the Air! Annual show.
One of the recent comedy plays by Oppenheimer, 'I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom', was released in the summer of 2018 at UCLA's James Bridges Theatre.