Bernie Orenstein, Co-Writer of ‘That Girl’ and ‘The New Dick Van Dyke Show,’ Dies at 95 — SkimNews
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- Bernie Orenstein died Sept. 14 at age 95, his family confirmed, ending a 40-year TV comedy writing and producing career.
- Orenstein partnered with Saul Turteltaub to write and produce hits including 'That Girl,' 'The New Dick Van Dyke Show,' 'The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show,' 'Kate & Allie,' 'What's Happening!!' and 'Cosby.'
- On 'Sanford and Son,' Orenstein recalled that star Redd Foxx was protective of 'the two white Jewish guys writing a Black show.'
- Orenstein worked alongside Joan Rivers, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Dick Van Dyke, Marlo Thomas and Bing Crosby across his career.
- Outside writing, Orenstein mentored rising writers and producers at Long Island University Brooklyn's TV Writers Studio MFA program.
- Born in Toronto in 1931, Orenstein moved to New York City to write for 'Candid Camera' and 'The Hollywood Palace' before his Turteltaub partnership took off.
- In a 2016 Television Academy Foundation interview, Orenstein said he wanted to be remembered 'by the body of work and the fact that I never hurt anybody.'
Why it matters: Orenstein's death removes the last half of a Turteltaub-Orenstein writing duo that shaped 1970s and '80s network sitcom comedy, including one of TV's rare cross-racial writing rooms on 'Sanford and Son' — a dynamic Orenstein himself flagged as unusual. His later mentoring role at LIU Brooklyn extended that pipeline of comedy writers beyond his own credits.
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