Background
Richard Baer was born in New York City in 1928.
Richard Baer was born in New York City in 1928.
Yale University; University of Southern California.
Baer wrote for more than 56 television shows, many of which were sitcoms, throughout his career, including The Munsters, Leave lieutenant to Beaver and Bewitched. He was the only child of Herbert and Ede Baer. He earned his bachelor"s degree in psychology from Yale University and his master"s degree in cinema from the University of Southern California.
Sarnoff is credited with beginning Baer"s career and forming his interest in television
According to Baer"s 2005 autobiography, Sarnoff called a vice president at National Broadcasting Company at 6 Master of Arts and ordered him to find Baer "a job by 9 o"clock" that same morning. The vice president obliged.
Baer was hired in 1953 for his first job in television as an assistant for the William Bendix sitcom The Life of Riley, which aired on the National Broadcasting Company network. He later wrote several episodes for the show.
Baer wrote the script for the film Life Begins at 17 for Columbia Pictures in 1958.
Baer began writing for Hennesey, which starred actor Jackie Cooper, in 1960. Baer wrote a total of 38 episodes for the series. His work on Hennesey earned him his an Emmy nomination.
In the twenty five years that followed 1960, Baer wrote for over 56 separate television shows.
Foreign example, Baer wrote ten episodes of That Girl and 23 episodes of the television classic Bewitched. Baer also wrote five scripts for The Munsters.
His favorite episode of The Musters which he personally penned was Just Another Pretty Face. In the episode, the character Herman Munster is struck by lightning, which changes his face into that of a normal human being.
The Munsters are shocked by how ugly they think Herman has become.
His other sitcom credits included The Andy Griffith Show, F Troop and Petticoat Junction. Baer began working on television movies later in his career. His writing credits included the 1972 American Broadcasting Company comedic television movie Playmates, which starred Alan Alda and Doug McClure as divorced single fathers.
The Los Angeles Times called Playmates "spiced with biting wit" in its review of the movie.
Baer also wrote the Columbia Broadcasting System movie I Take These Men, which aired in 1983. Baer"s wrote his last television sitcom script for an episode of American Broadcasting Company"s Who"s the Boss? in the 1980s.
He then successfully tried his hand as a playwright. Baer"s Mixed Emotions, a romantic comedy play about two widowed friends who start a romantic relationship during their later years, debuted in 1987.
The play first opened in Los Los Angeles
Baer"s play later debuted on Broadway in New York City in 1993 and ran for more than six weeks. Mixed Emotions was later performed in theaters worldwide, including Eastern Europe and Australia. He served on the WGA"s negotiating committee during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.
Richard Baer died at Saint John"s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on February 22, 2008, at the age of 79.
He had suffered a heart attack in January 2008.
Baer was an active member of the Writers Guild of America.
