Buck Henry

Born on December 9, 1930, New Yorker Henry Zuckerman – his birth name – was the son of Ruth Taylor, an actress of the silent era. He started his journey when he was recruited by the television editing specialist Alan Abel, to devise a curious hoax. He would pretend to be a guy named G. Clifford Prout, president of the Society Against the Indecency of Naked Animals, who sent out press releases complaining about the animals wearing no clothes. He appeared in numerous media defending his curious proposal. Later, he appeared as a comedian, on shows like “The New Steve Allen Show” and “That Was the Week that Was.” 

He created the legendary comedy series Agent 86 with Mel Brooks . He made his debut as a screenwriter with  The Troublemaker, a comedy starring  Tom Aldredge , followed by What’s wrong, doctor? , homage to the ‘screwball comedy’. He turned his career around with  The Graduate , co-written with  Calder Willingham , based on Charles Webb ‘s novel  of the same name . He played a role as the hotel concierge who gave the protagonist a hard time. The film directed by Mike Nichols , which starred Dustin Hoffman  , received six Oscar nominations, including one for the librettists. More than a decade later, Buck Henry would once again be up for the Academy Award, as co-director with Warren Beatty of Heaven Can Wait , in which he again appeared as an actor, as the angel who accidentally summons heaven ahead of time when protagonist. He worked with Nichols again on adapting Trap 22 , based on the novel by Joseph Heller .

“Before I sit down and start typing I need to know three things,” he said in an interview. “The beginning, something very convincing in the middle that encourages me to keep moving forward and an idea for the end.”

He also lavished himself as a presenter on the television program Saturday Night Live , where he regularly imitated various characters, including Charles Lindbergh. Among Buck Henry ‘s last works , his appearances as the father of the protagonist, Tina Fey, in Rockefeller Plaza stand out . He is survived by his wife, Sally, with whom he is not publicly known to have had any children.