Norman Steinberg, the screenwriter who helped pen the beloved Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles and won an Emmy writing alongside George Carlin on The Flip Wilson Show, has died. His family announced Thursday that Steinberg had died March 15, but did not share a cause of death. He was 83. Steinberg was a copyright lawyer who hated his job when he met Mel Brooks by chance at a café across the street from his office, according to The Hollywood Reporter. After much badgering by Steinberg, Brooks told him to submit a script for his spy-spoof sitcom Get Smart. The series was canceled, but Brooks told Steinberg he was funny—and, legend has it, Steinberg quit the law firm the same day. He worked as a comedy writer in New York and Los Angeles, where he and George Carlin wrote for The Flip Wilson Show the same year the comedy-variety series’ writing staff won an Emmy. In the early 1970s, Brooks called him to help punch up a script called Tex X, which would go on to become Blazing Saddles. Steinberg also helped write the 1980s comedy classics like My Favorite Year and Johnny Dangerously.
It’s a sad day when Norman Steinberg leaves us. From BLAZING SADDLES to MY FAVORITE YEAR, he was one of the best writers I ever worked with. I’m so glad I rescued him from a dull stable legal career, because he always permeated the writers room with his infectious comic spirit.
