Buck Henry, a multi-talented individual, was a renowned comedy writer, story editor, actor, and director. Born to a fascinating family, his father, Paul Steinberg Zuckerman, was an Air Force general turned stockbroker, and his mother, Ruth Taylor, was a silent screen star and a former member of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties.
Henry's early interest in comedy led him to contribute to the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern magazine, known as 'Jacko', while still in college. He shared this passion with notable writers, including Dr. Seuss, novelist Budd Schulberg, and playwright Frank D. Gilroy. After attending Harvard Military Academy for a brief period, Henry developed a strong interest in acting, which led to a few small roles on Broadway.
Henry's budding career was interrupted by military service during the Korean War. Following his service, he joined a small improvisational off-Broadway theatre troupe called The Premise for a year before moving to Hollywood. He gained widespread popularity in the 1960s as one of the principal hosts of Saturday Night Live, writer for The Garry Moore Show, and co-creator/writer of Get Smart, for which he won an Emmy in 1967.
Prior to this success, Henry gained notoriety for his involvement in a hoax, where he masqueraded as G. Clifford Prout, Jr., president of the bogus Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, making public appearances on network television and other media, demanding that all zoos and wildlife parks be closed until all animals were "properly dressed". The hoax was eventually exposed after Henry was spotted as an actor by a fellow CBS employee during a Walter Cronkite interview.
Henry's writing style brought an edgier, smarter, and more anarchic tone to his work, earning him a reputation as one of the new wave of satirists, alongside Woody Allen and Alan Arkin. Some of his memorable one-liners, particularly for Get Smart, have become idiomatic. Although not all of his endeavors were successful, Henry received two Oscar nominations, one for his screenplay of The Graduate and the other for co-directing the re-make of Heaven Can Wait.
Throughout his career, Henry was in high demand as a guest on talk shows, including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and Dick Cavett, and appeared as an actor in most of the films he wrote. He passed away at the age of 89 in Los Angeles on January 8, 2020.
