Danny Arnold; TV Writer, Producer
Danny Arnold, the Emmy Award-winning writer-producer of television series such as “Barney Miller†and “Bewitched,†died of heart failure at his Los Angeles home over the weekend. He was 70.
Arnold had suffered a stroke and two heart attacks in the waning days of “Miller,†the series for which he won an Emmy for the 1981-82 season, but he returned to television work in the mid-’80s.
He won his first Emmy for the 1969-70 season of “My World and Welcome to It,†a sitcom loosely based on the work of writer James Thurber, and received the Writers Guild of America’s lifetime achievement award in 1985.
Known for his dark humor and quick wit, the New York City-born Arnold began his entertainment career as a stand-up comic. After leaving the Marines when World War II ended, he worked as a film editor, actor, writer and producer. His writing-producing career started with the final season of “The Real McCoys†in 1963 and ended in the mid-’80s with the short-lived series “Joe Bash†and “STAT.â€
His first made-for-television movie, “Don’t Look Back,†the story of Leroy (Satchel) Paige’s involvement with the Negro Baseball League, brought Arnold into conflict with network restrictions on docudramas in 1981.
After becoming unhappy with network structures, he established his own distribution company to control his own syndication and production.
He also leased a New Jersey armory in 1986 with plans to turn it into a film and television production center, but those plans never materialized.
In 1989, the cigar-chomping Arnold took the witness stand to testify as a Hollywood expert in support of columnist Art Buchwald. Buchwald had sued Paramount Pictures for $5 million, claiming the company had stolen his idea to make “Coming to America,†a hit Eddie Murphy movie.
Over the years, Arnold became a vocal advocate of maintaining quality on television.
“A commitment to excellence is dying,†he told a newspaper interviewer in 1991. “But every field has pockets of resistance with people who are committed to standards. They are victims of their egos that can’t stand to do anything less than what they’re capable of doing.â€
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