Known For
Directing
Known Credits
9
Gender
Male
Birthday
July 11, 1922 (104 years old)
Place of Birth
New 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.
| 1984 | Charles in Charge...Director | |
| 1981 | A Love Letter to Jack Benny...Director | |
| 1980 | Nobody's Perfect...Director | |
| 1979 | California Fever...Director | |
| 1979 | Working Stiffs...Director | |
| 1979 | Angie...Director | |
| 1977 | Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas...Director | |
| 1977 | Fish...Director | |
| 1976 | Alice...Director | |
| 1975 | When Things Were Rotten...Director | |
| 1975 | Welcome Back, Kotter...Director | |
| 1974 | That's My Mama...Director | |
| 1972 | Once Upon a Tour...Director | |
| 1972 | Sanford and Son...Director | |
| 1970 | Nanny and the Professor...Director | |
| 1969 | Love, American Style...Director | |
| 1969 | The Brady Bunch...Director | |
| 1969 | Room 222...Director | |
| 1968 | Jack Benny's Bag...Director | |
| 1968 | Blondie...Director | |
| 1968 | Adam-12...Director | |
| 1966 | The Last of the Secret Agents?...Director | |
| 1965 | Get Smart...Director | |
| 1964 | Karen...Director | |
| 1964 | The Munsters...Director | |
| 1962 | McHale's Navy...Director | |
| 1962 | I'm Dickens, He's Fenster...Director | |
| 1959 | Dennis the Menace...Director | |
| 1958 | The All-Star Christmas Show...Director | |
| 1957 | Leave It to Beaver...Director | |
| 1957 | Bachelor Father...Director |
| 1976 | NBC: The First Fifty Years...Creative Consultant | |
| 1948 | Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein...Dialogue Coach |
| 1972 | Once Upon a Tour...Producer | |
| 1966 | The Last of the Secret Agents?...Producer |
| 1966 | The Last of the Secret Agents?...Story |
| 1995 | Empire of the Censorsas Self | |
| 1954 | Anything Goesas Radio Announcer | |
| 1953 | Walking My Baby Back Homeas Doc | |
| 1950 | The Colgate Comedy Houras Self | |
| 1943 | Keep 'Em Sluggingas Ape | |
| 1942 | Who Done It?as 'Murder at Midnight' Organist | |
| 1942 | The Affairs of Marthaas Newsboy (uncredited) | |
| 1942 | Grand Central Murderas Whistling Messenger (uncredited) | |
| 1942 | Rio Ritaas Hotel Laundry Boy (uncredited) |