Buck Henry

Buck Henry Zuckerman was born in New York City in 1930. His mother was a silent film actress and his father a general in the Air Force. This mix of military discipline and show business shaped a man who never needed to shout to be the funniest person in the room.

He started out writing jokes for variety shows in the 1960s. But his real breakthrough came when Mike Nichols asked him to adapt a short novel about a confused college student. In 1967, he wrote the screenplay for The Graduate, and the industry changed its pace.

Henry earned $35,000 for that job. It was a modest fee for a script that ended up defining the cynicism of an era and earned him his first Oscar nomination. And although Dustin Hoffman took the spotlight, the bite in the dialogue belonged entirely to Henry.

He changed the sense of humor of a generation without ever messing up his hair.

The Shoe Phone and Total Parody

In 1965, he created Get Smart 86 with Mel Brooks. The assignment was simple: they wanted a James Bond parody that would work on commercial television. Henry brought the dry wit, and Brooks brought the manic energy, to create a universe of bumbling spies.

The show lasted five seasons and served as a haven for absurd humor. And although many remember it for its ridiculous gadgets, Henry's real achievement was writing dialogue that treated the audience like they were smart. He never underestimated his audience.

But his acting career was also essential.

Between 1976 and 1980, he hosted Saturday Night Live on ten different occasions. He was the show's go-to host during its wildest years. Writers knew Henry could save any sketch when the main cast was too high to remember their lines.

Directing and the Quiet Decline

In 1978, he made the leap to directing with Heaven Can Wait. He shared the director's chair with Warren Beatty, and the film earned nine Oscar nominations. It was a massive box office hit that cemented his place in Hollywood's major studios.

He also wrote What's Up, Doc? for Peter Bogdanovich in 1972. That film was a tribute to the screwball comedies of the 1930s, and it showed that Henry had mastered the rhythm of physical gags and pratfalls as well as the rhythm of biting one-liners.

His final years were more low-key.

In 2014, he wrote the screenplay for Enemies, A Love Story for director Barry Levinson. It was an adaptation of a Philip Roth novel that never fully won over New York critics. From that point on, Henry steered clear of big commercial projects.

He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on January 8, 2020. Heart failure ended his life at the age of 89.