Timothy Hyde Harris (born July 21, 1946) is an American author, screenwriter and producer. He has been publishing works of fiction since the late 1960s and has been involved in filmmaking since the early 1980s. For his work in film, Harris has been nominated for a

BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay The BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay is a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a screenwriter for a specific film. The British Academy of ...

as well as an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origina ...

for Writing in a Feature Production.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, Harris has lived in several countries throughout Europe and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. After his parents divorced at a young age, his stepfather—an architect—worked in different countries and the family moved frequently. At the age of five, he was sent to a boarding school in North Africa. He then lived in Italy, Netherlands and England before his family moved back to the United States. Since then, he has moved between Europe and the United States several times.Nolan, Tom
Interview – Timothy Harris
''

January Magazine ''January Magazine'' is an internet-based book-related publication. Founded by author Linda L. Richards in 1997, ''January Magazine'' has added various sections and offshoot publications since. The magazine is physically based in Vancouver, Bri ...

'', May 2004. Accessed April 13, 2010. In an interview in 2004, Harris claimed that he wrote his first book when he lived in London and was "seven or eight" years old. He was ill "for about a month" and wrote the book while bedridden. His first published work was ''Kronski/McSmash'' which he wrote around the age of 20. It was published in 1969 in the United Kingdom and 1970 in the United States.

Film career

Harris' film career started in the 1980s when he struck a friendship with

Herschel Weingrod Herschel Alan Weingrod (born October 30, 1947) is an American screenwriter. He has written and co-written a number of Hollywood films including ''Trading Places'', ''Twins'', '' Kindergarten Cop'' and '' Space Jam'' with fellow writer Timothy Harri ...

. With Weingrod, Harris collaborated on several projects writing stories and screenplays for films such as ''

Trading Places ''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film te ...

'', ''

Brewster's Millions ''Brewster's Millions'' is a comedic novel written by George Barr McCutcheon in 1902, originally under the pseudonym of Richard Greaves. The plot concerns a young man whose grandfather leaves him $1 million in a will, but a competing will from ...

'', ''

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

'', ''

Kindergarten Cop ''Kindergarten Cop'' is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and distributed by Universal Pictures. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough Los Angeles police detective working undercover as a kindergarten teac ...

'' and ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel Weingrod. The first film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation ...

''. The pair also produced

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939 – June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designe ...

's 1993 film, ''

Falling Down ''Falling Down'' is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Ebbe Roe Smith, and starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of William Foster, a disgruntled, une ...

''. In reviewing

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

's ''

Zelig ''Zelig'' is a 1983 American satirical mockumentary comedy film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, a nondescript enigma, who, apparently out of his desire to fit in and be liked, unwittingly takes on the characteris ...

'' for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in July 1983, film critic

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

said "''Trading Places'' is one of the best American comedies in a long time, but I'd be hard-put to assign more responsibility for the film's success to its director, John Landis, than to Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod, who wrote it...". Harris and Weingrod were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay award at the

37th British Academy Film Awards The 37th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 25 March 1984 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1983. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Telev ...

for their work on ''Trading Places'' but ultimately lost the award to Paul D. Zimmerman for '' The King of Comedy''.Film Nominations 1983

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

. Accessed April 13, 2010. Harris was again nominated for writing honors in 2010 when he was nominated for the award for Writing in a Feature Production at the

37th Annie Awards The 37th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2009, were held on February 6, 2010, at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California. Production category nominees Nominations announced on December 1, 2009 Best Animated Feature * '' ...

. His nomination was for the screenplay he wrote for the 2009 animated film ''

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 volumes by Akita Shoten. Da ...

'' but he lost this award to

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...

and

Noah Baumbach Noah Baumbach (born September 3, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making light comedies set in New York City and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman. His frequent collaborators include Wes A ...

for '' Fantastic Mr. Fox''.37th Annual Annie Nominations and Awards Recipients
,

International Animated Film Association The International Animated Film Association (French: ''Association Internationale du Film d'Animation'', ASIFA) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France by well-known animation artists including Canadian an ...

. Accessed April 13, 2010.

Bibliography

* ''Kronski/McSmash'', 1969 * ''Steelyard Blues'', 1972 ("based on an original screenplay by David S. Ward") * ''Kyd for Hire'', 1977 * ''Heatwave'', 1979 ("based on the screenplay by Herschel Weingrod") * ''American Gigolo'', 1979 ("based on the screenplay by Paul Schrader") * ''Good Night and Good-Bye'', 1979 * ''Unfaithful Servant'', 2004

Filmography

References

External links

*
Timothy Harris
on

, ''interview May 2004''
Timothy Hyde Harris
on Krimiautoren A-Z (german) {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Timothy 1946 births Living people 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers American male screenwriters Film producers from California Writers from Los Angeles Screenwriters from California American expatriates in Italy American expatriates in the Netherlands American expatriates in England