Steven Sunshine, the writer-producer who worked with his wife, Madeline Sunshine, on the TV shows Webster and The New Odd Couple and on the Blake Edwards film Son of the Pink Panther, has died. He was 81.
Sunshine died March 15 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, after a battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a family spokesperson announced.
Sunshine also spent 18 years as a Daytime Emmy-winning senior producer and “star whisperer” on the syndicated TV show , landing interviews with the likes of Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino and President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Watch the newsmagazine pay tribute to him here.
At ABC, Sunshine and his wife wrote and produced for Webster, starring Emmanuel Lewis, Alex Karras and Susan Clark, from 1983-86 and wrote for The New Odd Couple, starring Ron Glass and Demond Wilson in 1983.
After teaming with Edwards on the script for Son of the Pink Panther (1983), which starred Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau’s illegitimate son, they developed the 1992 ABC sitcom Julie, starring Edwards’ wife Julie Andrews as a TV personality who marries a veterinarian (James Farentino) and moves with his family to Iowa. (The show was canceled after six episodes.)
He and his wife also developed for CBS the 1989 sitcom The People Next Door, which starred Jeffrey Jones as a cartoonist. That show, co-created by Wes Craven, lasted just five episodes.
Born in the Bronx on March 9, 1945, Sunshine graduated from the University at Buffalo before making his way to Hollywood.
He and Madeline, also a novelist, published children’s author and playwright, were married for 56 years. They were behind Serrano the Musical, a theatrical production directed by Joel Zwick that combined elements of Cyrano de Bergerac and Tony Soprano.
Sunshine also co-directed with Howie Mandel and Reed Grinsell the 2012 documentary Committed, about writer-performer Vic Cohen, and was a founding member of the Creative Coalition, which helped provide those in Hollywood with accurate political information in their capacity as media sources and public speakers.
