Earl Barret, co-creator of sitcom Too Close for Comfort, dies at 94

Mixed · 2Earl Barret, a television comedy writer and producer who helped create the sitcom Too Close for Comfort, died of natural causes on Thursday, 22 October, at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, aged 94. 1 2 Mixed · 2His daughter, J.K. Barret, announced his death and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, described him as a "lifelong learner with a keen, curious mind and a gift for impeccable comic timing". 2 1 Mixed · 2Born in Canton, Ohio, on 17 October 1932 to parents who owned a confectionery store, he grew up in Hollywood and first pursued acting before taking a free weekly TV-writing class taught by Robert C. Dennis, whose credits included Perry Mason and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. 2 1

Centre · 1He began writing for television in 1961 with episodes of Sea Hunt, Hawaiian Eye and Ripcord, then wrote for My Favorite Martian in 1963, starting a sitcom career that ran through the 1980s. 1 Mixed · 2His 1960s credits included My Three Sons, My Mother the Car, Get Smart, The Andy Griffith Show, Julia, I Spy and The Wild Wild West, and several episodes of Bewitched; in the 1970s he wrote for shows including Love, American Style, The Bob Newhart Show, Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter. 1 2 Mixed · 2With Dennis, he came up with the Batman villain King Tut, played by Victor Buono, when producers wanted new villains; they wrote four episodes in 1966 featuring the character. 2 1

Mixed · 2He worked with writing partner Arne Sultan on The Governor & J.J. (1969-70), for which Deadline says he wrote 21 episodes, and later on The Sandy Duncan Show and other series; Barret also directed an episode of The Governor & J.J. 2 1 Mixed · 2Too Close for Comfort, launched in 1980 as a vehicle for Ted Knight after The Mary Tyler Moore Show, ran six seasons to 1987 on ABC and in syndication; Knight played a cartoonist living in a San Francisco home with his wife (Nancy Dussault) and two adult daughters (Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Lydia Cornell). 1 2 Mixed · 2Barret was executive producer of the series, according to Deadline, and directed 13 episodes. 1 2

Mixed · 2The outlets describe the show's origins slightly differently: Deadline says Barret created it with Brian Cooke and Arne Sultan, while The Hollywood Reporter says Barret and Sultan developed it from the British sitcom Keep It in the Family, created by Cooke. 1 2 Mixed · 2Barret and Sultan also co-wrote the 1989 film See No Evil, Hear No Evil, starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder and directed by Arthur Hiller, which Deadline says was their final credit, Sultan having died in 1986. 1 2 Left · 1The Hollywood Reporter adds that the pair wrote the stage comedy Wife Begins at 40, later a 1988 BBC telefilm, and that Barret published a memoir, Eden Was on a Hollywood Hill, in 2010. 2

Mixed · 2He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his daughter J.K.; his son, John; and five grandsons, and was preceded in death by his daughter Lisa. 1 2