Gerald Gardner

Gerald Gardner was an American writer, author, story editor, and producer.

Although Gardner would go on to become a very successful television writer, he found initial fame as a book author. While doing research at a New York photo archive, Gardner discovered tens of thousands of 8x10 black and white press photos, an experience which led to the creation of Who’s In Charge Here?, a book featuring photos of political leaders and celebrities, with humorous captions that had very little to do with what was actually being depicted in the images. Who’s In Charge Here? became a bestseller that spawned numerous sequels.

The success of Who’s in Charge Here? led to Gardner joining the writing staff of NBC’s That Was the Week That Was, a live weekly satirical look at the news, which aired during the 1964-65 TV season. Gardner picked up two Emmy Award nominations for his work on the show.

Gardner and his partner, Dee Caruso, became a prolific writing team, penning scripts for Gilligan’s Island, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, The Bill Cosby Show, Happy Days, Love, American Style, and What’s Happening!!, as well as specials for Jack Benny, Don Adams, and Olivia Newton-John. The team also wrote 11 episodes of Get Smart, served as writers and story editors on the majority of episodes of The Monkees, and were writers, producers, and script supervisors on The Red Skelton Hour.

Gardner and Caruso wrote several television and theatrical movies, most notably Disney’s The World’s Greatest Athlete (with Jan-Michael Vincent), which, at the time, was Disney’s second-highest grossing live action film (after The Love Bug).

Gardner wrote more than 30 books on a wide variety of subjects. Most recently, in 2020, Schiffer Kids published Marvin, a graphic novel adaptation of composer/musician Marvin Hamlisch’s autobiography, The Way I Was, which Hamlisch co-wrote with Gardner in 1992.

Gardner died October 11, 2020, in Woodland Hills, California. He was 91.