PARENT, Gail 1940–

PERSONAL

Original name, Gail Kostner; born August 12, 1940, in New York, NY; daughter of Theodore (a Wall Street executive) and Ruth (maiden name, Goldberg) Kostner; married Lair Parent (a television producer), June 24, 1962 (divorced, 1979); children: two sons. Education: Attended Syracuse University, 1958–60; New York University, B.S., 1962. Religion: Jewish.

Addresses:

Agent—Innovative Artists, 1505 10th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401.

Career:

Writer, producer, and television show creator. Also worked as a junior high school English teacher in New York City.

Awards, Honors:

Emmy Award nominations (with others), outstanding writing achievement in music or variety, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1974, Emmy Award, outstanding writing achievement in a variety or music series, 1973, all for The Carol Burnett Show; Writers Guild of America TV Award nomination (with others), original variety, 1976, for The Smothers Brothers Show; Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding writing in a comedy—variety or music special, 1977, for Sills and Burnett at the Met; Emmy Award nominations (with others), outstanding comedy series, 1990, 1991, all for The Golden Girls; CableACE Award (with others), variety special or series, 1996, Emmy Award nominations (with others), outstanding variety, music, or comedy special, 1996, 1998, 1999, Emmy Award nominations (with others), outstanding individual achievement in writing for a variety or music program, 1996, 1997, Emmy Award (with others), outstanding variety, music, or comedy series, 1997, Writers Guild of America TV Award nomination (with others), comedy/variety (including talk)—series, 1997, all for Tracey Takes On…

CREDITS

Television Work; Series:

(With Kenny Solms) Producer, The Smothers Brothers Show, NBC, 1975.

(With Ann Marcus, Jerry Adelman, and Daniel Gregory Browne) Creator, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, syndicated, 1975.

(With Solms) Producer, Three Girls Three, NBC, 1977.

Creator, Forever Fernwood, syndicated, 1977.

Creator, Finder of Lost Loves, ABC, 1984.

Producer, The Golden Girls, 1989–90.

Creator, Babes, Fox, 1990.

Supervising producer, The Golden Girls, NBC, 1990–91.

Co–executive producer, The Golden Girls, NBC, 1991–92.

Producer, First Time Out (also known as Jackie Guerra), 1995.

Creative consultant, Something So Right, NBC, 1996–97, then ABC, 1998.

Supervising producer, Tracey Takes On …, HBO, 1997–98.

Creative consultant, Payne, CBS, 1999.

Television Work; Specials:

Producer, The Best of Tracey Takes On …, HBO, 1996.

Television Work; Pilots:

Executive producer, Sheila, CBS, 1977.

(With Ann Elder) Executive producer, I'd Rather Be Calm, CBS, 1982.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Herself, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, NBC, 1971, 1972.

WRITINGS

Plays:

(Contributor) Instant Replay (revue), produced at Upstairs at the Downstairs, New York City, 1968.

(With Kenny Solms) Lorelei or "Gentlemen Still Prefer Blondes", pre–Broadway tour of U.S. cities, 1973, then Palace Theatre, New York City, 1974.

Screenplays:

(With Kenny Solms) Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (adapted from her novel of the same title), Paramount, 1975.

(With Andrew Smith) The Main Event, Warner Bros., 1979.

(With Armyan Bernstein) Cross My Heart, MCA/Universal, 1987.

All I Want for Christmas, Paramount, 1991.

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Buena Vista, 2004.

Television Movies:

(With Kenny Solms) Call Her Mom, ABC, 1972.

Cadet Kelly, 2002.

Television Specials:

(With Kenny Solms, Bill Angelos, and Buz Kohan) Ann–Margret: From Hollywood with Love, CBS, 1969.

(With Sheldon Keller and Solms) Bing Crosby and Carol Burnett—Together Again for the First Time, NBC, 1969.

(With Solms, Pat McCormick, and Jack Riley) The Many Sides of Don Rickles, ABC, 1970.

(With Solms, Gary Belkin, Martin Charnin, Bob Ellison, Thomas Meehan, and Bob Randall) Annie and the Hoods, ABC, 1974. (With Solms) Sills and Burnett at the Met, CBS, 1976.

Television Pilots:

(With others) Hellzapoppin', ABC, 1972.

(With Kenny Solms) Sheila, CBS, 1977.

(With Ann Elder) I'd Rather Be Calm, CBS, 1982.

Finder of Lost Loves, 1984.

(With Tracey Jackson) Babes, 1990.

Television Episodes:

(With Kenny Solms) "We Closed in Minneapolis," The Mary Tyler Moore Show, CBS, 1971.

Sons and Daughters, CBS, 1974.

"The Lady in Red," Rhoda, CBS, 1974.

"The Shower," Rhoda, CBS, 1974.

(With others) The Smothers Brothers Show, NBC, 1975.

(With Solms) Three Girls Three, NBC, 1977.

(With Kevin Parent) "Guilt Trip," Amazing Stories (also known as Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories), NBC, 1985.

(With Kevin Parent) "Hell Toupee," Amazing Stories (also known as Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories), NBC, 1986.

"The Accurate Conception," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1989.

"Not Another Monday," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1989.

"Triple Play," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1989.

(With Marc Sotkin, Robert Bruce, and Martin Weiss) "The President's Coming! The President's Coming!: Part 1," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1990.

(With Jim Vallely) "Blanche Delivers," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1990.

(With Vallely) "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun … Before They Die," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1990.

(Story only; with Vallely and Mitchell Hurwitz) "There Goes the Bride: Part 1," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1990.

(With Vallely) "There Goes the Bride: Part 2," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1990.

(With Vallely) "Even Grandmas Get the Blues," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1991.

(With Vallely) "Where's Charlie?," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1991.

(Story only) "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home: Part 1," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1991.

(With Vallely) "From Here to the Pharmacy," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1991.

(With Vallely) "Goodbye, Mr. Gordon," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1992.

"Home Again, Rose: Part 1," The Golden Girls, CBS, 1992.

"Sweet Denial," Platypus Man, UPN, 1995.

First Time Out, The WB, 1995.

Tracey Takes On …, HBO, 1996–98.

"The J. Edgar Hoover Pin Story," Payne, 1999.

Also wrote (with Solms and others) The Carol Burnett Show, CBS.

Fiction:

Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York, Putnam, 1972.

David Meyer Is a Mother, Harper, 1976.

The Best Laid Plans, Putnam, 1980.

A Sign of the Eighties, Putnam, 1987.

Nonfiction:

(With Connell Cowin) The Art of War for Lovers, Pocket, 1998.

Also wrote A Little Bit Married. Wrote nightclub revue sketches with Kenny Solms; contributor to periodicals.