Hal Kanter, an Emmy-winning comedy master who wrote for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, directed Elvis Presley in "Loving You" and created Diahann Carroll's ground-breaking TV sitcom, has died. He was 92. Kanter died Sunday, according to the Writers Guild of America, where he had been a member since 1950 and served on the union's board of directors.
Daughter Donna Kanter told the Los Angeles Times he died from pneumonia complications at Encino Hospital. His three Emmys included back-to-back wins for 1991-92 as a writer for the Academy Awards, a ceremony on which he contributed material on 32 separate shows over the decades.
Kanter also won an Emmy in 1955 for "The George Gobel Show," and he received four other nominations, including one as executive producer of "All in the Family" in 1976 and another for outstanding comedy series for Carroll's "Julia" in 1969. Kanter also wrote the 1952 Hope and Crosby adventure "Road to Bali," and his 1950s big-screen work also included Hope's comedies "My Favourite Spy" and "Casanova's Big Night." In 1976, Hope hired Kanter as his head writer.
Born December 18, 1918, in Savannah, Georgia, Kanter broke into show business as a gag writer, contributing material to Crosby's radio show, "The Danny Kaye Show" and other radio programs before moving into television as a writer on "The Ed Wynn Show" in 1949.
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