Dale McRaven was a co-creator, producer and writer of Mork & Mindy from 1978 - 1982
Biography[]
Born March 15, 1939 in Southern Illinois near the town of Polasky, Dale was the 5th of 6 children from Raymond and Ella McRaven. At 2 years old the family moved to Chicago and then a few years after to Phoenix, Arizona. As a small kid, Dale recognized that bullies seldom hit you when you made them laugh, hence a great self defense tool. [1]
Career[]
Dale sold his first script by sneaking onto “The Steve Allen Show,” a big variety show in the 1960’s. .His First real job at age 24 in show business was on the “The Joey Bishop Show.” He was hired by Garry Marshall who found Dale and partner, Carl Kleinschmidt to be the staff writers.At the time all the shows produced at the Desilu Studios were owned by T and L Productions, who were Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard. One day on the street in the studio lot, Leonard grabbed Dale and Carl and said "I want you boys to follow me cause I am going to change your lives." He introduced them to Carl Reiner who wanted them to write for “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The show won a Writer's Guild Award for their first script and earned them 8 more scripts out of 28 shows in the final season of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The show’s writers also won an Emmy Award, for Outstanding Written Comedy Series, 1965-1966.
Dale went on to produce “The Partridge Family.” ABC aired the show for 4 seasons producing 96 episodes and 8 music albums with actors such as Shirley Jones, David Cassidy, Danny Bonaduce and Susan Dey. Dale sold his first created show, “Texas Wheelers,” to ABC in 1974, a situation comedy starring Jack Elma, Gary Busey and a pre-Star Wars Mark Hamiil about a good for nothing father who returns to take care of his 3 kids after their mother died.
Dale created another show, “Angie,” then in 1986, “Perfect Strangers” which also became a hit TV sitcom based on the relationship between two distant cousins where one was a foreigner and new to America and the other was a social disaster, it was like watching two stooges. Bronson Pinchot played Balki, the foreigner and Mark Linn-Baker played Larry, the American cousin. After a couple years, Dale stepped away from the daily production life to sending in notes on every script. “Perfect Strangers” ran eight seasons, 150 episodes, then it came to an end in 1993.
Mork & Mindy[]
Dale McRaven turned down Garry Marshall's initial offer to write and produce “Mork and Mindy” because as Dale replied, "I don't do Martians!" After Garry's coaxing, he finally took the job. Writing the hour long Pilot after Pam Dawber was cast in the role of Mindy who befriends Robin Williams, Mork. The show aired 1978 to 1982 winning a People's Choice Award in 1979 an Emmy Nomination, and a Writer's Guild Award Nomination in 1978.
Partial Filmography[]
| Show | Year | Role | As Writer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfect Strangers: Season 2 | Sep 17, 1986 | Writer / Director | 1 |
| Perfect Strangers: Season 1 | Mar 25, 1986 | Writer / Creator / Executive Producer | 3 |
| Angie | 1979 -1980 | Creator | - |
| Mork & Mindy: Season 3 | Nov 13, 1980 | Writer | 1 |
| Mork & Mindy: Season 2 | Sep 16, 1979 | Writer | 3 |
| Mork & Mindy: Season 1 | Sep 14, 1978 | Writer / Creator / Producer | 10 |
| Laverne & Shirley (1983): Season 1 | Jan 27, 1976 | Writer | 1 |
| Texas Wheelers | 1974 - 1975 | Writer / Creator / Producer | 5 |
| The Partridge Family: Season 4 | Sep 15, 1973 | Writer | 2 |
| The Partridge Family: Season 3 | Sep 15, 1972 | Writer | 7 |
| The Partridge Family: Season 2 | Sep 17, 1971 | Writer | 2 |
| The Partridge Family: Season 1 | Sep 25, 1970 | Writer | 3 |
| The Odd Couple: Season 1 | Sep 24, 1970 | Writer | 1 |
| Love, American Style: Season 1 | Sep 29, 1969 | Writer | 3 |
| Get Smart: Season 5 | Sep 26, 1969 | Writer | 1 |
| Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: Season 3 | Sep 14, 1966 | Writer | 4 |
| That Girl: Season 1 | Sep 8, 1966 | Writer | 1 |
| Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.: Season 2 | Sep 17, 1965 | Writer | 1 |
| The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 5 | Sep 15, 1965 | Writer | 6 |
| The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 4 | Sep 23, 1964 | Writer | 3 |