{{short description|American screenwriter and film producer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}} {{Infobox person |name=Bob Brunner |birth_name=Robert Brunner |birth_date={{birth date|1934|08|03}} |birth_place=New York City, New York, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2012|10|28|1934|08|03}} |death_place=Northridge, California, U.S. |occupation=Screenwriter, film producer, television producer }}
'''Robert Brunner''' (August 3, 1934 – October 28, 2012) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and television producer. He frequently collaborated in film and television with Garry Marshall, the creator of ''Happy Days''.<ref name=variety>{{cite news|title=Bob Brunner, 'Happy Days' writer, dies |url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118061908?refCatId=14 |work=Variety |date=November 8, 2012 |accessdate=November 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name=dspy>{{cite news|title=Bob Brunner, 'Happy Days' writer and producer, dies aged 78 |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a436565/bob-brunner-happy-days-writer-and-producer-dies-aged-78.html |work=Digital Spy |date=November 7, 2012 |accessdate=November 27, 2012}}</ref><ref name=thr>{{cite news|first=Mike|last=Barnes|title='Happy Days' Writer-Producer Bob Brunner Dies at 78 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bob-brunner-happy-days-jump-the-shark-387593 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=November 7, 2012 |accessdate=November 27, 2012}}</ref> Brunner is credited with creating the "Fonzie" nickname for Henry Winkler's character, Arthur Fonzarelli, on ''Happy Days''.<ref name=variety/> He also created one of Fonzie's key catchphrases, "Sit on it."<ref name=variety/>
==Life and career==
===Early life=== Brunner was born on August 3, 1934, in New York City.<ref name=thr/> In 1959, Brunner met Garry Marshall while both were working at the ''New York Daily News'' as copyboys.<ref name=variety/> He entered the entertainment industry during the early 1960s as a publicist for Louis Armstrong and Tony Bennett.<ref name="variety" /><ref name="thr" />
===Film and television career=== During the 1970s, Brunner began a career in television, teaming with longtime friend Garry Marshall as a scriptwriter and television producer.<ref name=variety/><ref name=thr/> Brunner wrote for ''The Odd Couple'', which Marshall was executive producing at the time.<ref name=thr/> Brunner also worked on Marshall's ''Laverne & Shirley'' and ''Blansky's Beauties'', which premiered in 1977 and was soon cancelled.<ref name=thr/>
Brunner joined the production staff of ''Happy Days''. He produced thirty-seven episodes of ''Happy Days'' and wrote or co-wrote fifteen episodes.<ref name=thr/> He became an integral member of the production staff, including stints as its showrunner.<ref name=thr/>
Notably, Brunner contributed to American popular culture by creating the nickname "Fonzie" for Henry Winkler's iconic character, Arthur Fonzarelli, who was originally just a minor player on the show.<ref name=variety/> Brunner also created Fonzie's iconic phrase, "Sit on it," used by Fonzie as a comeback on the show.<ref name=thr/> Fonzie, and his catchphrase, made Happy Days the number one show in the United States at the time.<ref name=thr/>
More infamously, Brunner also wrote the 1977 ''Happy Days'' season premiere script which led to the phrase "Jump the shark," now used by television critics to criticize a television series deemed to have been on the air for too long.<ref name=variety/> In the episode, first aired on September 20, 1977, Fonzie travels to Los Angeles to take a screen test and break into acting. When he ties with a local Californian in a water skiing competition, Fonzie has to jump over a shark in the water as a tiebreaker.<ref name=thr/> The episode apparently led radio personality Jon Hein and his former college roommate to coin the term "jump the shark" to describe a television show in creative decline.<ref name=thr/> Still, the episode was watched by 30 million viewers, proving to be a hit in the ratings.<ref name=thr/> "Amazingly, I can't remember – which is frustrating, as I can usually watch a Happy Days episode from any season, hear a joke and recall who wrote it," in an account written by Fred Fox Jr.<ref name=thr/>
''Happy Days'' writer Fred Fox Jr. later wrote about the origin of "jump the shark" and the episode in an article published in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in September 2010: "My friend Brian Levant, then a talented new member of the writing staff, believes that Garry Marshall, the show's co-creator and executive producer, and Bob Brunner, the showrunner at the time, made the suggestion. But what I definitely remember is that no one protested vehemently; not one of us said, 'Fonzie, jump a shark? Are you out of your mind?"<ref name=thr/>
In 1979, Brunner co-created (with Arthur Silver) and executive produced the short-lived NBC sitcom, ''Brothers and Sisters''.<ref name=variety/> That same year (1979), Brunner also created another quickly cancelled CBS show, ''Working Stiffs'', starring James Belushi and Michael Keaton.<ref name=variety/> He and Arthur Silver also developed the television adaptation of ''The Bad News Bears'', which aired on CBS from 1979 to 1980.<ref name=variety/> Brunner went on to executive produce a string of television shows, including ''Love, Sidney'', ''Private Benjamin'', ''Webster'', and ''Diff'rent Strokes''.<ref name=variety/> Brunner was co-nominated for an Emmy for outstanding comedy series in 1982 for his work as the producer of ''Love, Sidney''.<ref name=thr/>
Brunner continued to collaborate with friend, Garry Marshall, on several of Marshall's films. He co-wrote the script for Marshall's 1999 romantic comedy, ''The Other Sister'', starring Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi.<ref name=variety/> He also contributed to Marshall's ''Frankie and Johnny'' in 1991 (In which Brunner also appeared on screen in a small role),<ref name=thr/> ''Exit to Eden'' in 1994, and ''The Princess Diaries'' in 2001.<ref name=variety/>
===Death=== Bob Brunner died of a heart attack near his residence in Northridge, California, on October 28, 2012, at the age of 78. He was survived by three children Robert Jr, Jennifer and Elizabeth – and six grandchildren.<ref name=dspy/> Brunner was buried at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery next to his wife, Ann, who died in 1987.<ref name=thr/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=0116358|name=Bob Brunner}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Bob}} Category:1934 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Television producers from California Category:Film producers from California Category:American male screenwriters Category:Screenwriters from New York City Category:People from Northridge, Los Angeles Category:Television producers from New York City Category:Film producers from New York (state) Category:Screenwriters from California