Susan Harris
{{short description|American former television comedy writer and producer}}
{{other people}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Susan Harris
|image = Susan Harris (1999).jpg
|imagesize =
|caption = Harris in the White House in 1999
|birth_name = Susan Spivak
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|10|28}}
|birth_place = Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
|death_date =
|death_place =
|occupation = Producer, writer
|yearsactive = 1970–1999
|spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Berkeley Harris|1965|1969|reason=div}}
- {{marriage|Paul Junger Witt|1983|2018|reason=d}}
}}
|children = Sam Harris, Oliver Witt
|relatives = Marion Segal Freed (step-sister)
}}
Susan Harris (née Spivak; born October 28, 1940) is an American former television writer and producer who created the Emmy Award-winning sitcoms Soap (1977–1981) and The Golden Girls (1985–1992).{{cite news |title=The Golden Girls creator Susan Harris on pushing the boundaries of the sitcom |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/friday-november-16-2018-susan-harris-classified-and-more-1.4907201/the-golden-girls-creator-susan-harris-on-pushing-the-boundaries-of-the-sitcom-1.4907659 |series=Q |first=Beza |last=Seife |publisher=CBC Radio One |date=November 16, 2018 |access-date=October 30, 2021}} Between 1975 and 1998, Harris was one of the most prolific television writers, creating 13 comedy series.{{cite news| url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/golden-girls-creator-susan-harris-220029206.html| title=How The Golden Girls creator Susan Harris changed TV comedy forever — and why she doesn't watch it now| first=Kristen| last=Baldwin| date=October 15, 2018| website=Yahoo Entertainment}} In 2011, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
Life and career
The first script Harris sold was for Then Came Bronson. She then wrote for Love, American Style, All in the Family, The Partridge Family and the TV adaptation of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. Her abortion episode for the Bea Arthur-starring series Maude in the 1970s received great acclaim. She worked with Arthur again in the 1980s when Arthur took one of the lead roles in The Golden Girls.
Harris created many television series: Fay, Soap, Loves Me, Loves Me Not, Benson, It Takes Two, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses, Good & Evil, The Golden Palace and The Secret Lives of Men.{{cite news| title=Golden Girls Creator Adds Shows |newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=September 10, 1991| first=Ric| last=DuBrow| url=https://latimes.newspapers.com/image/176329060/?terms=Golden%20Girls%20Creator%20Adds%20Shows&match=1| accessdate=October 30, 2021| url-access=subscription}} Her most financially successful show was The Golden Girls.
Harris was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and her symptoms affected her ability to participate in the production of The Golden Girls. In an episode of that show titled "Sick and Tired" (1989), Harris wrote some of her struggles into the storyline where Bea Arthur's character Dorothy Zbornak was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. It later turned out Harris had an adrenal issue but she wrote the episode as "my revenge script for all the people out there who had a disease like that".{{cite news| url=http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/the-golden-girls-creators-on-finding-new-fans.html| title=The Golden Girls Creators On Finding a New Generation of Fans| last=Hunt| first=Stacey Wilson| journal=Vulture| access-date=2017-03-03| language=en}}
Harris formed the production company Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas.
Harris married television producer Paul Junger Witt on September 18, 1983; he co-produced all the shows she created. He died in 2018. She was married from 1965 to 1969 to actor Berkeley Harris; the couple's son is author and neuroscientist Sam Harris. She lives in suburban Los Angeles. Harris was the step-sister to American film producer, editor and screenwriter Marion Segal Freed.{{cite news| url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/marion-segal-freed-film-editor-276321| title=Marion Segal Freed, Film Editor, Dies at 77| last=Barnes| first=Mike| date=December 25, 2011| newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter| accessdate=21 January 2012}}
Awards and honors
She was honored with the Writers' Guild's Paddy Chayefsky Award in 2005 and inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2011.{{cite news| url=https://www.emmys.com/video/susan-harris-hall-fame-inductee| title=Susan Harris - Hall of Fame Inductee| website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences| access-date=October 30, 2021| date=January 21, 2011| language=en}}
Early and personal life
Harris was born to a Jewish family in Mount Vernon, New York.https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/qa-sam-harris She is the mother of American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host Sam Harris.
Credits
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1970
|writer |Episode: "Then Came Bronson" |
| 1970
|writer |Episode: "You'll Never Walk Alone" |
| 1971–1973
|writer |3 episodes |
| 1971
|The Courtship of Eddie's Father |writer |Episode: "To Catch a Thief" |
| 1971
|writer |3 episodes |
| 1972–1973
|writer |3 episodes |
| 1972–1973
|writer |4 episodes |
| 1973
|writer |2 episodes |
| 1975–1976
|Fay |creator |10 episodes |
| 1977
|creator |6 episodes |
| 1977–1981
|Soap |creator, executive producer |87 episodes |
| 1979–1986
|creator, executive producer |158 episodes |
| 1980–1981
|creator, executive producer |19 episodes |
| 1982–1983
|creator, executive producer |22 episodes |
| 1985
|creator, executive producer |7 episodes |
| 1985–1992
|creator, executive producer |177 episodes |
| 1988–1995
|creator, executive producer |170 episodes |
| 1991
|creator, executive producer |6 episodes |
| 1991–1994
|creator, executive producer |68 episodes |
| 1992–1993
|creator, executive producer |24 episodes |
| 1998–1999
|creator, executive producer |13 episodes |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0365358|Susan Harris}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160317120727/https://www.museum.tv/eotv/harrissusan.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications profile of Susan Harris] (archive)
{{Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement}}
{{2011 Television Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Susan}}
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:American comedy writers
Category:American television writers
Category:American women in business
Category:American women television producers
Category:American women television writers
Category:Businesspeople from New York (state)
Category:Jewish American comedy writers
Category:Jewish American television writers
Category:People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)
Category:Television producers from New York (state)