Harold Jack Bloom (April 26, 1924 – August 27, 1999) was an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

who scored a notable hit with his first major screenplay to the classic

Anthony Mann Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. He came to prominence as a skilled director of ''Film noirs, film noir'' and Western film, Westerns, and for his Epic film ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

The Naked Spur ''The Naked Spur'' is a 1953 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker, and Millard Mitchell. Written by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, the film is about a bounty hu ...

'' in 1953, earning an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

nomination in the process.

Career

Apart from the odd film script, most of Bloom's career was spent writing for television. He worked on such series as ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

,'' ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents Napoleon Solo, played by Robert Vaughn, and Illya Kuryakin, p ...

'' and, in particular, the TV series version of ''

Twelve O'Clock High ''Twelve O'Clock High'' is a 1949 American war film directed by Henry King and based on the novel of the same name by Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr. It stars Gregory Peck as Brig. General Frank Savage. Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard ...

.'' He was also co-creator, along with

Robert A. Cinader Robert A. Cinader (November 10, 1924 – November 16, 1982) was an American television producer best known for his work on two NBC series packaged by actor/producer Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, ''Adam-12'' and ''Emergency!'' The latter show in p ...

and

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, Television director, director, and screenwriter, most famous for his role as Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise), ''Dragnet'' franchise ...

, of the medical/paramedic drama, ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

'' Its pilot installment, "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act," was the only installment to which he made any major contributions. When

Richard Maibaum Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films. He wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, be ...

was unavailable, the producers of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film '' You Only Live Twice'' hired Bloom to write the screenplay of the film. The producers did not use Bloom's script, but since several of his ideas were eventually written into

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

's screenplay of the film, Bloom was credited with "additional story material." Bloom co-produced ''

A Gunfight ''A Gunfight'' is a 1971 American Western film directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Kirk Douglas and Johnny Cash. The film was financed by the Jicarilla Apache Nation, although there are no leading Native American characters in the story. ...

'' with Kirk Douglas through his own film production company, Thoroughbred Productions. One of his last assignments was the well-regarded

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

Remembrance of Love ''Remembrance of Love'' is a 1982 war film directed by Jack Smight and starring Kirk Douglas. A reunion of Holocaust survivors in Israel brings together a couple who had been teenage lovers 35 years earlier in Poland during the Second World War. I ...

'' in 1982, a showcase role for

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

as a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

Personal life

He was married to actress Carolyn Kearney, with whom he had one child, Charles. Harold Jack Bloom's second marriage, in 1987, was to interior designer Norene Fremont. Bloom died of cancer on August 27, 1999, at the age of seventy-five.

Notes

External links

* 1924 births 1999 deaths Deaths from cancer in California American male screenwriters American television producers Place of birth missing 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-1920s-stub