Buck Henry Biography

Henry Zuckerman, credited as Buck Henry (born December 9, 1930), is an American actor, writer, film director, and television director. He has been nominated for an Academy Award twice, in 1968 for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Graduate and in 1979 for Best Director for Heaven Can Wait.

Early life

Henry was born in New York City, the son of silent film actress and star of the original Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ruth Taylor, and Paul Steinberg Zuckerman (April 15, 1899 - 1965), a retired Air Force brigadier general and stockbroker.

Henry attended The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) and Dartmouth College, where he met Bob Rafelson, and also worked on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine. From 1959 to 1962, as part of an elaborate hoax by comedian Alan Abel, he pretended to be G. Clifford Prout, the quietly outraged president of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, who presented his point of view on talk shows.

Television career

Henry's dry humor attracted attention in the entertainment community. He became a cast member on TV programs such as The New Steve Allen Show (1961) and That Was The Week That Was (1964-65). He was a co-creator and writer for Get Smart (1965-70), with Mel Brooks. Two of his TV projects had short runs but are fondly remembered by fans: Captain Nice (1967) with William Daniels as a reluctant superhero, and Quark (1978), with Richard Benjamin in command of a garbage scow in outer space. He also played Dr. Victor Rudman, a fractile scientist who dated Murphy, on the "My Dinner With Einstein" episode (1989) of Murphy Brown.

He appeared on the television show Will and Grace in 2005. In 2007, he made two guest appearances on The Daily Show as a contributor, billed as the show's "Senior Senior Correspondent". He has also appeared as Liz Lemon's father, Dick Lemon, in the 30 Rock episodes "Ludachristmas" (December 13, 2007) and "Gentleman's Intermission" (November 4, 2010). In 2011, he appeared in a multi-episode arc of Hot in Cleveland as Elka's groom.

Saturday Night Live

Henry hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live 10 times between 1976 and 1980. It became a tradition in those four years for him to host the final show of each season. Henry also hosted the only live remote attempted by SNL, broadcast live from Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Henry's frequent host record would be broken when Steve Martin hosted the 14th season finale in 1989. During the October 30, 1976 episode, Buck Henry was injured in the forehead by John Belushi's katana in the samurai sketch. Henry's head began to bleed and he was forced to wear a large bandage on his forehead for the rest of the show. As a gag, the members of the SNL cast each wore a bandage on their foreheads as well.

Recurring characters on SNL

• Howard, a sadistic stunt coordinator
• Marshall DiLaMuca, father of Bill Murray's character Todd in The Nerds sketches
• Mr. Dantley, the straight man and frequent customer to Samurai Futaba's (John Belushi) many businesses.
• Uncle Roy, a single, pedophilic babysitter who disguises his attempts at molesting the children he's watching (played by Gilda Radner and Laraine Newman) as games.

Celebrity impersonations on SNL

• Charles Lindbergh
• John Dean
• Ron Nessen

Film and stage career

Henry has appeared in more than 40 films including The Graduate, Candy, Catch-22, Taking Off, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Gloria, Eating Raoul, Aria, Tune in Tomorrow, Defending Your Life, The Player, and Grumpy Old Men. He co-directed Heaven Can Wait, the 1978 remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and appeared in the film as an officious angel, reprising the character originally played by Edward Everett Horton.

His many writing credits include Candy, The Owl and the Pussycat, What's Up, Doc?, Catch-22, The Day of the Dolphin, Protocol, and To Die For. He shared an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, The Graduate, a film in which he made a cameo appearance. In 1997, Henry was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

His Broadway credits include the 2002 revival of Morning's at Seven. Off-Broadway in July 2009, he starred opposite Holland Taylor in Mother, a play by Lisa Ebersole.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	The Bridge	Voice	English Version
1964	The Troublemaker	T.R. Kingston	Also Writer
1967	The Graduate	Desk Clerk	Also Writer
1968	The Secret War of Harry Frigg	Stockade Commandant
1968	Candy	Mental Patient	Also Writer
1970	Catch-22	Lieutenant Colonel Korn	Also Writer
1970	The Owl and the Pussycat	Bookstore Man	Uncredited Also Writer
1971	Taking Off	Larry Tyne
1971	Is There Sex After Death?	Dr. Louise Manos
1972	What's Up Doc?	Co-Writer (w/ Peter Bogdanovich)
1973	The Day of the Dolphin	Women's Club Man	Uncredited Also Writer
1976	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Oliver Farnsworth
1977	The Absent-Minded Waiter	Bernie Cates	Short
1978	Heaven Can Wait	The Escort	Also Writer/Director
1979	Old Boyfriends	Art Kopple
1980	Gloria	Jack Dawn
1980	First Family	Father Sandstone/TV Anchorman	Also Writer/Director
1981	Strong Medicine
1982	Eating Raoul	Mr. Leech
1987	Aria	Preston
1989	Rude Awakening	Lloyd Stool
1990	Tune In Tomorrow	Father Serafim
1991	Defending Your Life	Dick Stanley
1991	The Linguini Incident	Cecil
1991	Shakespeare's Plan 12 from Outer Space	The Priest
1992	The Player	Himself
1992	The Lounge People	Lewis Louis
1993	Short Cuts	Gordon Johnson
1993	Even Cowgirls Get the Blues	Dr. Dreyfus
1993	Grumpy Old Men	Snyder
1995	To Die For	H. Finlaysson	Also Writer
1997	The Real Blonde	Dr. Leuter
1998	1999	Mr. Goldman
1998	I'm Losing You	Phillip Dagrom
1998	Curtain Call	Charles Van Allsburg
1998	The Man Who Counted	George Postlewait	Short
1999	Breakfast of Champions	Fred T. Barry
2000	Lisa Picard is Famous	Buck Henry
2001	Town & Country	Suttler	Also Writer
2001	Serendipity	Himself	Uncredited
2004	The Last Shot	Lonnie Bosco
2011	A Bird of the Air	Duncan Weber
2013	Streetcar	Sheriff	Short
2015	Kiss Kiss Fingerbang	Cat Owner	Short

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	The New Steve Allen Show	Regular	5 episodes
1964-1965	That Was the Week That Was	Himself
1975	The Owl and the Pussycat	Felix Sherman	TV Pilot
1976-1980, 1989	Saturday Night Live	Host/Himself	17 episodes
1976	That Was the Year That Was - 1976	News Reporter	TV Movie
1978	Quark	Dignitary	1 episode Uncredited
1984	The New Show	Regular	9 episodes
1985	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Walter Lang	1 episode
1987-1988	Falcon Crest	Foster Glenn	3 episodes
1989	Murphy Brown	Victor Rudman	1 episode
1989	Trying Times	Man on TV	1 episode
1992	Keep the Change	Smitty	TV Movie
1992	Tales from the Crypt	George	1 episode
1992	Eek! The Cat	Cupid	1 episode Voice
1992	Mastergate	Clay Fielder	TV Movie
1995	Harrison Bergeron	TV Producer	TV Movie
1999	Dilbert	Dadbert	1 episode
2005	Will & Grace	Leonard	1 episode
2007	The Daily Show	Contributor	2 episodes
2007-2010	30 Rock	Dick Lemon	2 episodes
2011	Hot in Cleveland	Fred	3 episodes
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Mr. Morton	1 episode
2013	Franklin & Bash	Judge Henry Dinsdale	2 episodes

Writing credits

Film

• The Troublemaker (1964) (with Theodore J. Flicker)
• The Graduate (1967) (with Calder Willingham)
• Candy (1968)
• Catch-22 (1970)
• The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
• Is There Sex After Death? (1971) (Uncredited)
• What's Up, Doc? (1972) (with Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Benton and David Newman)
• The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
• Heaven Can Wait (1978)
• First Family (1980)
• Protocol (1984)
• To Die For (1995)
• Town & Country (2001)
• The Humbling (2014)

Television

• That Was the Week That Was (1964) (3 episodes)
• Captain Nice (1967) (2 episodes) (creator)
• Get Smart (1965-1970) (co-creator)
• Quark (1978) (7 episodes)
• The New Show (1984) (TV) (5 episodes)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985) (1 episode "Wake Me When I'm Dead")
• Trying Times (1989) (TV) (director)
• Tales from the Crypt (1992) (1 episode)
• Great Railway Journeys (1996) (1 episode)
• Dilbert (2000) (1 episode)

Directing Credits

• I Miss Sonja Henie (1971) (Short film)
• Heaven Can Wait (1978) (with Warren Beatty)
• First Family (1980)
• Trying Times (1989) (TV) (director)