Norman Panama (April 21, 1914 – January 13, 2003) was an American screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois. He collaborated with a former schoolfriend, Melvin Frank to form a writing partnership which endured for three decades. He also wrote gags for comedians such as Bob Hope's radio program and for Groucho Marx.
The most famous films he directed were Li'l Abner (1959), the Danny Kaye film The Court Jester (1956), and the Bob Hope film How to Commit Marriage (1969). He wrote Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), Road to Utopia (1946), and The Court Jester, among other movies.
He won an Edgar Award for A Talent for Murder (1981), a play he co-wrote with Jerome Chodorov.
Panama continued to write and direct through the 1980s.
He died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California from complications due to Parkinson's disease.
Read more about Norman Panama: Selected Filmography
Famous quotes containing the word norman:
“Oh, why can’t we break away from all this, just you and I, and lodge with my fleas in the hills?... I mean flee to my lodge in the hills.”
—Arthur Sheekman, screenwriter, and Norman McLeod. Monkey Business (film)