Norman Abbott

Known for DirectingBorn 1922-07-11Died 2016-07-09New York City, New York, USA

Norman Abbott (July 11, 1922 – July 9, 2016) was an American vaudevillian, actor, producer and television director. Abbott was born in New York City, where his uncle, comedian Bud Abbott, and his mother raised him. His early experience in entertainment was as a vaudeville performer, including summers working the 'borscht circuit" in resorts in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In the early 1940s, he and Pat Costello (brother of Lou Costello) worked as stand-ins for the better-known act during filming of Who Done It? (1942).[3] During World War II, Abbott served as a member of the original United States Navy SEALs team. After the war, Abbott became a dialog director on the Abbott and Costello films and was mentored by the team's director, Charles T. Barton. Abbott later directed episodes of The Jack Benny Program, Leave It to Beaver, Get Smart, The Munsters, Welcome Back, Kotter, Dennis the Menace, and Sanford and Son. Abbott's obituary in The Hollywood Reporter described him as "the brainchild behind the Broadway sensation Sugar Babies, the comeback vehicle for Mickey Rooney in the late 1970s". He conceived the idea of a Broadway musical based on burlesque after inheriting his uncle's "treasure trove of burlesque material, including written gags, props, music and posters".[4] Despite his having originated the concept, Abbott was fired as director of the show after two weeks of rehearsing.Read more

Movies & web series

Walking My Baby Back Home

The Munsters

Get Smart

California Fever

Angie

Sanford and Son

Nobody's Perfect

When Things Were Rotten

Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas

Welcome Back, Kotter

Alice

Adam-12

That's My Mama

Blondie

I'm Dickens, He's Fenster

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein

Leave It to Beaver

Fish

The Colgate Comedy Hour

The Brady Bunch

Who Done It?

McHale's Navy

Dennis the Menace

Nanny and the Professor

The Affairs of Martha

Anything Goes

Charles in Charge

Room 222

Love, American Style

Bachelor Father

The All-Star Christmas Show

Rio Rita

Empire of the Censors

Keep 'Em Slugging

Working Stiffs

Grand Central Murder

Karen

The Last of the Secret Agents?

A Love Letter to Jack Benny

NBC: The First Fifty Years

Once Upon a Tour

Jack Benny's Bag