Ernest Chambers Courtesy of Chambers family Ernest Chambers, the 11-time Emmy nominee who served with frequent writing-producing partner Saul Ilson as the original showrunners on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, has died. He was 97.
Chambers died Thursday after a brief illness at his home in Los Angeles, a family spokesperson announced.
During his half-century career in show business, Chambers produced, wrote or executive produced more than 1,000 hours of television, with his productions amassing 51 Emmy nominations.
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Chambers and Ilson started working together in 1963 on the first season of The Danny Kaye Show, then landed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, also for CBS, in 1967. They spent two seasons on the landmark variety program through April 1968, often tussling with network censors to ensure the counter-culture comedy of Dick and Tom Smothers made it to viewers across America.
“We were part of something groundbreaking,” Chambers said in a THR oral history of the show published in 2017. “It proved you could do topical satire, which has led to great shows today like The Simpsons and South Park.”
The pair also worked on The Summer Brothers Smothers Show in 1968 and on acclaimed TV specials and series featuring the likes of Frank Sinatra, Leslie Ugghams, Doris Day, Bobby Darin, Carol Channing and Tony Orlando & Dawn.
On his own, Chambers also wrote and/or produced shows for Neil Sedaka, Donna Summer, Barry Manilow, The Captain & Tennille, Barbara Mandrell and Gilda Radner and produced Merv Griffin’s long-running talk show and the competition program Dance Fever.
Born in Philadelphia on Dec. 28, 1928, Chambers served in the U.S. Army and attended Columbia University, where he was editor-in-chief of the university humor magazine, The Jester.
In New York, he worked as an advertising copywriter by day while writing comedy sketches and songs for the vibrant cabaret scene at night, and he made it to Broadway in 1961, writing for the Channing revue Show Girl.
Chambers then headed to Hollywood and wrote for such 1960s series as The Bob Newhart Show (a variety program), My Three Sons, The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Danny Kaye Show.
He wrote the stage musical of Dennis the Menace, executive produced the 1993 feature adaptation that starred Walter Matthau and Mason Gamble and served as vp television & film at Merv Griffin Entertainment.
In 1997, he was the executive producer of the Griffin Entertainment game show Click, which gave Ryan Seacrest one of his first hosting gigs.
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Veronica; his daughters, Alison and Kathryn; his son, Christopher; and five grandchildren. Another son, Brian Chambers, a film editor (NYPD Blue, Judging Amy) and TV executive, died in 2011 at age 56.
A memorial will be held in Beverly Hills in the coming weeks. For details, email [email protected].
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