Richard Gurman (b. 1947) is an American producer and writer, who wrote the Season 4 episode, Gotta Run, Part 2.
Biography[]
A Californian born and bred, Richard Gurman attended Pasadena High School (Class of '65) heading at the end of that year to USC Berkley where he did a B.A. in Sociology, graduating in 1969. Going straight on for his Masters degree in 1970, he studied Journalism and Broadcast Journalism in USC Berkley's Graduate School of Journalism finishing in 1973. [1]
He is married to wife, Susan, and has two sons Jesse and Will.
He is currently a Producer and Documentary Film Maker at Crewneck Productions
Career[]
Richard Gurman got his first screen credit as a writer on Laverne & Shirley (1980), and is one of a very few writers to have penned episodes for all three of Garry Marshall's 'Three Kids', writing, along with his episode of Mork & Mindy, 6 episodes and teleplays for Happy Days (1982 - 84). Including the script in which Fonzie integrates a diner in the south, at the same time working as story editor on 10 episodes for the show. [2]
In addition to Marshall's productions he wrote for shows like The Bad News Bears (1980); The Brady Brides (1981); Lewis & Clark (1981-1982); The New Leave It to Beaver (1983 - 1985); The Love Boat (1985); 227 (1986); Diff'rent Strokes (1985-1986); The Facts of Life (1986-87); Women in Prison (1987-88); Free Spirit (1989); Uncle Buck (1990); Shasta McNasty (1999-2000); Still Standing (2002-2005); I'm in the Band (2010 - 2011); and Dog with a Blog (2012-2014).
He also created and wrote for the sitcom Home Free (1993) the show that Matthew Perry briefly starred in before landing the role of Chandler on Friends. Gurman also served as creative consultant on the show. Something he also did on the show he is probably best known for with his almost decade long work writing for Married... with Children (1987-1996), He also worked on the Spanish language version of Married...with Children, Matrimonio con hijos (2006) and on an Israeli version (2011).
He also worked in multiple production roles as producer, supervising, co-executive producer, executive producer and consulting producer over it's 9 year run.
His work as a producer also covered The New Leave It to Beaver (1984); 227 (1985); Diff'rent Strokes (1985-1986); Executive Producer on The Facts of Life (1986); Women in Prison (1987); Free Spirit (1989-1990); Uncle Buck (1990); DiResta (1998); Shasta McNasty (1999). Consulting and Executive Producer on Still Standing (2002 - 2006); I'm in the Band (2009-2011) and Consulting Producer on Dog with a Blog (2012-2015).
Working now as a documentary film maker, his latest production took him back to his early days, producing the ABC tribute to Garry Marshall, The Happy Days of Garry Marshall (2020) in the wake of Marshall passing away.
Mork & Mindy[]
Richard Gurman took on the middle part of the Kalnik Trilogy, penning Season 4's Gotta Run, Part 2, which culminated in Mork's revealing his true nature to the world.