Melville Shavelson, a Jewish comedy writer, producer and director who worked with stars such as Cary Grant, Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and garnered two Academy Award nominations for his original screenplays, died Aug. 8. He was 90.
Shavelson died of natural causes at his home in Studio City. A self-proclaimed writer by choice, producer by necessity and director in self-defense, Shavelson was a triple-threat, writing more than 35 feature motion pictures either alone or in collaboration, directing 12 and creating the Emmy Award-winning television series, “Make Room for Daddy.”
Kirk Douglas, the Jewish actor who acted alongside John Wayne, Yul Brynner and Frank Sinatra in the 1966 film “Cast a Giant Shadow,” a story about Israel that Shavelson wrote, produced and directed, remembered him as “a great guy” and “an excellent juggler.”
“He never dropped an actor. I loved working with him,” Douglas said.
Shavelson began his career in Hollywood as a gag writer for Hope’s Pepsodent Show on the radio. In 1947, he would write for Hope’s first foray into television.
The relationship between the two was longstanding, with the friendship earning Shavelson the opportunity to make his directing debut on “The Seven Little Foys,” a 1954 film.
Shavelson’s screenplay for that film earned him his first Academy Award nomination; he got another for “Houseboat.”
Born April 1, 1917, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Shavelson began crafting jokes while working at his father’s general store. In 1937, he graduated from Cornell University, where he was a humor columnist at the campus paper and produced a radio program for the school station.
After gra-duation, he was hired by a Broadway agent to write jokes for syndicated humor columnists. He moved to Hollywood in 1938.
Shavelson wrote several books, including “How to Make a Jewish Movie” and an autobiography released on his 90th birthday this year, “How to Succeed in Hollywood Without Really Trying: P.S. — You Can’t!”