Gail Parent (born August 12, 1940) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author.

Life and career

Parent was born Gail Kostner in New York City, New York, the daughter of Ruth (née Goldberg) and Theodore Kostner, a Wall Street executive. Parent is Jewish. Parent's writing career began in the 1960s where she teamed up with writer Kenny Solms. Her big break came when she began writing for '' The Carol Burnett Show''. She later went on to write for other TV shows including a 1971 episode of '' The Mary Tyler Moore Show''. The following year her novel ''Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York'', which chronicled its unattractive, overweight, Jewish heroine's romantic misadventures in Manhattan, became a best-seller that later served as the basis of a film starring Jeannie Berlin. Although the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

was adapted by someone else, she penned the scripts for Barbra Streisand's ''

The Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

'' (1979) and '' Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen'' (2004). Parent co-wrote the book for the 1974 musical '' Lorelei''. It is her sole Broadway credit. Parent's greatest success has been in television, most notably with ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty White ...

'' and Tracey Ullman's

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

series '' Tracey Takes On...'', serving as a producer and writer for both. She also wrote episodes of '' The Smothers Brothers Show'', '' The Carol Burnett Show'', ''

Rhoda ''Rhoda'' is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns starring Valerie Harper that originally aired on CBS for five seasons from September 9, 1974, to December 9, 1978. It was the first spin-off of ''The Mary Tyle ...

'',

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

's '' Amazing Stories'', ''

Babes Babes may refer to: __NOTOC__ Arts and entertainment * Babes (band), an American indie pop band * "Babes", a song from the album '' The Inner Me'' by Lala Hsu * ''Babes'' (TV series), an American sitcom (1990–1991) * Babes (website), a pornograph ...

'' (of which she also served as series creator) and '' Finder of Lost Loves'', and the musical variety special '' Sills and Burnett at the Met'' (1976). With Ann Marcus, she co-created the 1976-77 soap opera satire '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman''. With Kenny Solms, she created the 1970 situation comedy '' The Tim Conway Show''. Parent is the winner of a CableACE Award and two Emmys, and has been nominated for an additional twelve Emmys and two

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parent, Gail Jewish American screenwriters American television producers American women television producers American screenwriters American television writers American women television writers Emmy Award winners American women screenwriters 1940 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women