Known For
Directing
Born
Jul 11, 1922
Died
Jul 09, 2016
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Credits
43 titles
Norman Abbott
Biography
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.
Known For
Filmography
Empire of the Censors
Self
Charles in Charge
Director
A Love Letter to Jack Benny
Director
Nobody's Perfect
Director
California Fever
Director
Working Stiffs
Director
Angie
Director
Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas
Director
Fish
Director
NBC: The First Fifty Years
Creative Consultant
Alice
Director
When Things Were Rotten
Director
Welcome Back, Kotter
Director
That's My Mama
Director
Once Upon a Tour
Director
Sanford and Son
Director
Film '72
Self
Nanny and the Professor
Director
Love, American Style
Director
The Brady Bunch
Director
Room 222
Director
Jack Benny's Bag
Director
Blondie
Director
Adam-12
Director
The Last of the Secret Agents?
Director
Get Smart
Director
Karen
Director
The Munsters
Director
McHale's Navy
Director
I'm Dickens, He's Fenster
Director
Dennis the Menace
Director
The All-Star Christmas Show
Director
Leave It to Beaver
Director
Bachelor Father
Director
Anything Goes
Radio Announcer
Walking My Baby Back Home
Doc
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
Dialogue Coach
Keep 'Em Slugging
Ape
Who Done It?
'Murder at Midnight' Organist
The Affairs of Martha
Newsboy (uncredited)
Grand Central Murder
Whistling Messenger (uncredited)
Rio Rita
Hotel Laundry Boy (uncredited)