Login
Login

Bernard Slade

{{Short description|Canadian screenwriter (1930–2019)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Bernard Slade

|birth_name=Bernard Slade Newbound{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ey1OAQAAIAAJ&q=Bessie+Frederick+Newbound|title=Canadian Who's Who 2008|first=Elizabeth|last=Lumley|date=January 4, 2008|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802040718|access-date=December 14, 2020|via=Google Books}}

| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|5|2}}

| birth_place = St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|10|30|1930|5|2}}

| death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S.

| occupation = Screenwriter, playwright

| notable_works = Same Time, Next Year,
The Flying Nun,
The Partridge Family

| years_active = 1960–2018

| spouse = Jill Foster (1953–2017; her death)

}}

Bernard Slade Newbound (May 2, 1930 – October 30, 2019) was a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he created the sitcoms The Flying Nun and The Partridge Family. As a playwright, he wrote Same Time, Next Year, Tribute, and Romantic Comedy and their film adaptations.

He received a Tony Award nomination for Same Time, Next Year, and an Oscar nomination for the screen adaptation.

Early years

Slade was born in St. Catharines, Ontario in May 1930, the son of Bessie Harriet (Walbourne) and Frederick Newbound.{{cite news |last1=Hedley |first1=Tom |title=The Last Laugh of Bernard Slade |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34210144/bernard_slade/ |access-date=July 25, 2019 |work=The Province |date=July 26, 1975 |location=Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver |page=80|via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|last=Barnes |first=Mike |title=Bernard Slade, 'Partridge Family' Creator and 'Same Time, Next Year' Writer, Dies at 89|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bernard-slade-dead-partridge-family-creator-was-89-1251174|date=October 30, 2019|access-date=October 30, 2019|publisher=HollywoodReporter.com}} Slade moved to England with his family at age five. After he returned to Canada, he worked as a steward on Trans Canada Airlines for a while before he went into acting as a career.{{cite news |last1=Bennett |first1=Ray |title=Long way from Bewitched |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34211395/bernard_slade/ |access-date=July 25, 2019 |work=The Windsor Star |date=March 20, 1976 |location=Canada, Ontario, Windsor |page=43|via = Newspapers.com}}

Career

Slade began his career as an actor in repertory theatre in England. He also acted with the Garden Center Theatre in Vineland, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, he relocated to Hollywood and began to work at Screen Gems as a writer for television sitcoms, including Bewitched (including the 7th episode, "The Witches Are Out," which introduced Aunt Clara). When ABC gave him the opportunity to create a series, he devised Love on a Rooftop, similar in theme to Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, about a young couple living in a windowless walk-up apartment with access to a rooftop with a view of San Francisco.

The following year, Slade developed The Flying Nun (adapted from Tere Rios' book, The Fifteenth Pelican), with Sally Field as a young novice whose habit's headgear enabled her to fly. After briefly leaving Screen Gems to work as a script supervisor on The Courtship of Eddie's Father for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he came back to Screen Gems to create The Partridge Family, based on the real-life Cowsills, and Bridget Loves Bernie, inspired by the play Abie's Irish Rose. He also wrote the script to the 1972 Columbia Pictures film Stand Up and Be Counted, directed by Jackie Cooper and starring Jacqueline Bisset, in which the Helen Reddy song "I Am Woman" was first introduced. The last show he created for Screen Gems before it changed its name to Columbia Pictures Television was The Girl with Something Extra.

Despite his success in television, Slade returned to the theater in 1975 with his play Same Time, Next Year, about a couple who are married to others but meet once-a-year for sex and conversation. With Charles Grodin and Ellen Burstyn in the leads, the play was a major hit and ran for 1,453 performances. Slade received the Drama Desk Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play.

In 1978, he followed with Tribute, the story of a man who learns to love his father, a successful actor who always had more time for his theatrical cohorts than his son. Even with Jack Lemmon heading the cast, it proved to be far less successful than its predecessor, closing after 212 performances. Slightly more successful was Romantic Comedy (1979), starring Anthony Perkins and Mia Farrow. Slade wrote the screenplays for the film versions of all three plays, and was nominated for an Oscar for his screen adaptation of Same Time, Next Year."[https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Broadway-Playwright-Bernard-Slade-Passes-Away-at-89-20191030 Broadway Playwright Bernard Slade Passes Away at 89]". Broadway World. October 30, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2019.[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ (Search: 'Slade, Bernard')]. Academy Awards Database. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved December 24, 2019. Results: "1978 (51st). Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium) -- Same Time, Next Year".

Book

Slade wrote an autobiography, Shared Laughter, published by Key Porter Books.{{cite news |last1=Portman |first1=Jamie |title=Same Time, Year after Year |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34240398/bernard_slade/ |access-date=July 26, 2019 |work=Times Colonist |agency=Southam Newspapers |date=December 24, 2000 |location=Canada, British Columbia, Victoria |page=47|via = Newspapers.com}}

Personal life

Slade was married to actress Jill Foster from July 25, 1953 until her death on March 24, 2017.{{cite web |last1=Gerace |first1=Adam |title=Jill Foster 1930-2017 |url=http://www.adamgerace.com/2017/04/13/jill-foster-1930-2017/ |website=AdamGerace.com |access-date=16 July 2020}} They had two children: Laurie Newbound and Christopher Newbound. Slade died from Lewy body dementia at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on October 30, 2019, at the age of 89.

Film

Television

Theatre

  • Same Time, Next Year (1975)
  • Tribute (1978)
  • Romantic Comedy (1980)
  • Special Occasions (1982){{cite web |title=("Bernard Slade" search results) |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/bernard-slade-4498 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725020535/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/bernard-slade-4498 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2019}}
  • Fatal Attraction (1984)
  • Sweet William (1987) later titled An Act of the Imagination
  • Same Time, Another Year (1996) Sequel to Same Time, Next Year

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{IBDB name|4498}}
  • {{IMDb name|805152}}

{{The Partridge Family}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, Bernard}}

Category:1930 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century Canadian male writers

Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters

Category:Canadian expatriate writers in the United States

Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights

Category:Canadian male screenwriters

Category:Deaths from Lewy body dementia

Category:Deaths from dementia in California

Category:People from St. Catharines

Category:The Partridge Family

Category:Screenwriters from Ontario