Bob Carroll was the co-creator and writer of 'I Love Lucy.'
Carroll
Bob Carroll Jr., co-creator and writer of "I Love Lucy," died Saturday Jan. 27 in Los Angeles following a brief illness. He was 87.
Unlike today's TV shows which operate with huge writing staffs, all 180 episodes of the long-running CBS sitcom "I Love Lucy" were written by Carroll and his writing partner Madelyn Pugh Davis. Carroll created the show starring Lucille Ball and her then-husband Desi Arnaz with Davis and the show's producer and head writer, Jess Oppenheimer, in 1951.
Carroll and Davis co-wrote the show, which ran from from 1951-57, either with Oppenheimer or with Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, who joined the writing staff in the show's fourth season.
Many of the shows had essentially the same premise -- Lucy gets involved in some routine function and -- often through well-intentioned deviousness coupled with incredible clumsiness -- manages to turn it into a pratfall-filled disaster.
Carroll and Davis also created "The Tom Ewell Show" in 1960, created and co-wrote "The Mothers-in-Law" for NBC, produced and co-wrote ABC's "Mr. T and Tina" in 1976, and exec produced CBS's "Alice," which ran from 1977-85, "Private Benjamin" and "Dorothy." They wrote the story for the Ball-starring feature "Yours Mine and Ours" in 1968.
Carroll and Davis first worked with Oppenheimer and Ball on CBS radio show "My Favorite Husband" beginning in 1948. CBS intended to put that show on TV, but instead "I Love Lucy" was developed after Ball expressed her desire to star opposite her real-life husband, Cuban-born bandleader, Arnaz.
The writing team of Carroll and Davis also worked with Ball on subsequent series "The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show" (1957-60) "The Lucy Show" "Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy."
Born in McKeesport, Pa., Carroll moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., with his family when he was 3. His interest in writing was piqued as a teenager when he entered a radio contest, submitting a script he had written while laid up in bed recovering from a hip ailment. His submission won first prize.
Soon after, he left for Los Angeles, where he landed a job as an usher with CBS radio affiliate KNX. After a stint in the mailroom he was promoted to the writing staff.
Carroll joined the writing staff of CBS Radio in 1943, writing for shows such as "Hollywood Showcase With Hedda Hopper" and "The Steve Allen Show." He partnered with Davis in 1946.
He is survived by a daughter.
Contact Variety Staff at
news@variety.com