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Filmography
Writer
Awards & Nominations
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Date of Birth: |
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May 2, 1937 |
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Place of Birth: |
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Brooklyn, NY |
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Died: |
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August 4, 2001 |
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Spouse: |
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Henrietta Music |
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Children: |
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4 |
Famed voice actor best
known as the voice of Garfield the Cat and Carlton
the doorman on "Rhoda." Lorenzo was born
Gerald David Music in Brooklyn, though he grew up in
Duluth, Minnesota. Much later, he attended the
University of Minnesota there and became enormously
active in the school's Theatre Arts classes and
community. He also became enormously active with a
lovely female drama student named Henrietta.
Together, they started a comedy act that lasted
eight years and a life partnership that continued
indefinitely, through four children.
In
1967, he switched from performing to writing when he
joined the staff of the legendary Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS — although he
managed to occasionally sneak onto camera, often
with his banjo or ukulele. The show's writers won
Emmys in 1969 but Lorenzo decided that variety shows
were dying out and that he'd better drum up some
credits in situation comedy.
To that end, he and his
partner, David Davis, accepted a low-level staff
position on a new sitcom called The Mary Tyler
Moore Show. By the second season, they were
story editors on what would be hailed as one of the
all-time greatest television comedies and were
charged by the production company, MTM, with
creating a new series for comedian Bob Newhart.
Lorenzo co-created,
produced and wrote for his third "TV classic" in a
row when he and Davis concocted The Bob Newhart
Show, featuring Dr. Robert Hartley and his odd
style of psychiatrics. And Lorenzo and Harriet
composed the show's theme song.
Their next project was
to develop and produce Rhoda, a spin-off from
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It was on this
series that Lorenzo returned to performing,
supplying the voice of the unseen, perpetually
inebriated doorman, Carlton.
~ Mark Evanier |
