Earl Barret, a veteran comedy writer who wrote episodes of legendary sitcoms like The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford and Son, and Get Smart, has died.
Videos by Wide Open Country
His daughter, J.K. Barret, shared (per Deadline) that the 94-year-old passed away of natural causes on Oct. 22 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California.
Barret, an Ohio native, had a somewhat unconventional path to showbiz. He took a free weekly TV writing course in 1961. There, he befriended (and later collaborated with) the class's teacher, Robert C. Dennis.
Barret began scoring TV writing gigs right away, writing for shows like Sea Hunt the same year he took the course. In 1963, he wrote an episode of the sitcom My Favorite Martian, which led to a prolific career in the situational comedy TV genre.
According to Deadline, in the 1960s alone, Barret wrote for sitcoms such as My Three Sons, My Mother the Car, Get Smart, and The Andy Griffith Show. He also wrote several episodes of Bewitched and had a 4-episode run on the camp comedy Batman. He also managed to write for other action-comedies of the era, like I Spy and The Wild Wild West.
Earl Barret Co-Creates His Signature Sitcom
The 1970s proved to be a lucrative decade for the sought after sitcom writer.
He penned teleplays for Love, American Style, The Bob Newhart Show, The Sandy Duncan Show, Sanford and Son, and Welcome Back, Kotter.
However, it was in the 1980s that Earl Barret finally got to help create and run a sitcom. Too Close For Comfort, a vehicle for Ted Knight following his time on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, debuted in 1980. The sitcom, which saw Knight as a conservative political cartoonist and was co-created by Brian Cooke and Arne Sultan, ran through 1987.
Meanwhile, Barret's final writing credit is a big one. He co-wrote 1989's See No Evil, Hear No Evil, which starred the beloved pairing of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. Barret was also credited as executive producer on the film.
The writer leaves behind his wife, Barbara Barnett Barret, son John Nelson, daughter J.K and five grandsons. He lost a daughter, Lisa Nelson, before his passing.
Earl Barret was 94.
