Hokey Smoke! "Rocky and Bullwinkle" writer Chris Hayward dead!

[Eve]

From the AP:

BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) – Chris Hayward, an Emmy-winning television writer who helped develop the bumbling animated Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right and other offbeat characters for the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show, has died. He was 81. Hayward contributed satire, wordplay and puns for “Rocky and His Friends,” a witty cartoon that built a large adult following. The show debuted on ABC in 1959 and was renamed “The Bullwinkle Show” when it moved to NBC in 1961. Besides its titular flying squirrel and moose, the hit show featured segments including Mr. Peabody, a time-traveling dog with a boy companion, and Dudley, a klutzy hero always in pursuit of his nemesis Snidely Whiplash. Jay Ward, whose studio produced the show, gave very little instruction to Hayward when it came to reinventing the Do-Right character, which had been around since the late 1940s. “It’s about a stupid Mountie. Just have fun!” Hayward recalled.

With partner Allan Burns, Hayward later helped create “The Munsters,” and in 1968 the pair received an Emmy for their work on the CBS sitcom “He & She.” Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Hayward moved to Los Angeles at age 17. He took a night class in scriptwriting at a local high school and went into television in the 1950s. He worked on “Crusader Rabbit,” the first cartoon show created specifically for television, as well as “Get Smart,” “My Mother the Car” and “Barney Miller.”

[Otto]

I think out of respect they could’ve left “My Mother the Car” out of the obit…

[RealityChuck]

But it was nice that they mentioned He and She, a great comedy.

[Eve]

@RealityChuck

But it was nice that they mentioned He and She, a great comedy.

I enjoyed that show–I’m a huge fan of Paula Prentiss and Jack Cassidy.

[rowrrbazzle]

Permanently skrooched.

[RealityChuck]

@Eve

I enjoyed that show–I’m a huge fan of Paula Prentiss and Jack Cassidy.

Them, and Hamilton Camp and Kenneth Mars. Richard Benjamin wasn’t too shabby, either.

[ouryL]

Which might explain this photo :eek:
Mystery Photo

[Snooooopy]

Join us next time for …

“Straight To Heaven”

OR

“Hey, Where’d your soul wind up?”

[Random]

Not a good week for the creators of classis cartoons. Joseph Barbera joins the list:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/18/barbera.ap/index.html

[Little_Nemo]

Not exactly a week. Hayward died on November 20.

[BrainGlutton]

Wherever he is, I hope he’s making beeg trubble for Moose and Squirrel!