Larry Gelbart Wins Humanitas Prize's Kieser Award

Frank Desiderio, President of the Humanitas Prize announced today that Larry Gelbart has been named as the fifth recipient of the Kieser Award. Named for the late Fr. Ellwood "Bud" Kieser, C.S.P., a priest and producer who founded the Humanitas Prize, the award will be presented to Gelbart at the annual Humanitas luncheon on Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Previous winners include HBO President Colin Callender, Frank Pierson, Fay Kanin and Bill Moyers.

In making the announcement, Desiderio stated:  "Larry Gelbart is a tremendous talent who possesses breathtaking vision and creativity. We are honored to give him the Kieser Award which recognizes an individual whose work promotes a deeper appreciation for the dignity of each member of the human family. Larry's work epitomizes that goal."

Humanitas Executive Director Cathleen Young added: "Larry Gelbart continues to make tremendous contributions to the film, television and theater community as a prolific writer and a role model for so many people. He has earned a reputation for creating classic and thought-provoking stories filled with layered, complex characters. He is also known as a passionate advocate for writers. We are thrilled to present him with this honor."

Gelbart is an American comedy writer with over 60 years of credits. He began as a writer for the Danny Thomas radio show during the 1940s and wrote for Jack Parr and Bob Hope. In the 1950s, he worked for Sid Caesar on "Caesar's Hour," along with other gifted comedy writers Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner.

Gelbart wrote the long-running Broadway musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Burt Shevelove and Stephen Sondheim in 1962, for which he received a Tony Award. He was one of the main forces behind the creation of the TV series "M*A*S*H" and United States. Gelbart also wrote the screenplay for Oh, God!, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay and received the Writer's Guild and Edgar Allen Poe Awards. His screenplay for Tootsie received the Los Angeles and New York Society of Film Critics Award, the Writers Guild Award for Original Screenplay, in addition to nominations for the Oscar and British Academy Awards.  Other film credits include The Wrong Box, The Thrill of it All, Blame it on Rio and Movie, Movie, for which he received a Christopher Award.

His HBO screenplay, Barbarians at the Gate, earned him a Cable Ace Award, an Emmy for Outstanding TV Movie, the Golden Globe, Writers Guild Award and was named Best Program of the Year by the Television Critics Association.  For his HBO original screenplay, "Weapons of Mass Destruction," PEN Center West USA presented him its Literary Award for Teleplay.  His latest film for HBO, "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," stars Antonio Banderas and premiered Fall 2003.  His book, Laughing Matters, published by Random House, appeared in March 1998. Other honors include a New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award and an Edgar Allen Poe Award for his book for the musical, City of Angels, and a unique Drama Desk Award for his Special Contributions to Comedy.

The finalists for this year's Humanitas Prize for feature films and television productions will be announced on June 11, 2007. In addition, the Humanitas Prize will present the annual "David & Lynn Angell Humanitas Fellowship in Comedy Writing" which includes a $10,000 stipend and an opportunity to work in the television industry for a student who is completing a writing program.

The Humanitas Prize was established in 1974 to encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and give them the recognition they deserve.  Humanitas Prize winners have included numerous films and television shows that have changed the landscape of entertainment. 

For more information, please visit the website at www.humanitasprize.org.