Biography

Gary David Goldberg was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 25, 1944. He grew up in a noisy apartment building full of extended family which was ruled by his grandmother Jenny. She had the family’s only telephone, television and car, thus consolidating her absolute power. A prolonged and checkered collegiate career, which began at Brandeis University in 1962, ended at San Diego State University in 1975 (with many other schools in between), when Professor Nate Monaster said, “You’re a writer, Gary.”

In 1969, while working as a waiter at the famed Village Gate club in Greenwich Village, New York, Gary met the love of his life, Diana Meehan. The two traveled the world with their labrador retriever, Ubu, founded a day care center in Berkeley in the 1970s (motto: “Rain or Shine, We Take Your Child On A Trip Every Day”) and eventually moved to Southern California. In 1976 Gary landed his first “real” job at Mary Tyler Moore as a writer for “The Bob Newhart Show.” Remaining at MTM, he became story editor and a producer of “The Tony Randall Show,” and then in 1978 a producer of “Lou Grant.” In 1980 he created and executive produced “The Last Resort,” also for MTM.

In 1981, Gary formed his own company, UBU Productions. Under this banner, nine television series were created, including the enormously successful “Family Ties,” which ran on NBC 1982-1989. His critically acclaimed “Brooklyn Bridge” which aired on CBS 1991-1993, was based heavily on his own experiences growing up, including a character based on his grandmother. Then in her 90’s but still razor sharp, Jenny observed, “You made me look very pretty” adding, “You know those two boys on the show? You weren’t that good.” In association with DreamWorks, UBU also produced “Spin City” which ran for six seasons on ABC.

Gary is the recipient of numerous honors during his career, including an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe as co-producer of “Lou Grant” and an Emmy Award as writer of the “Family Ties;” five additional Emmy nominations for “Lou Grant” and “Family Ties;” a Peabody for “Lou Grant;” two Writers Guild Awards, for “M*A*S*H*” and “Family Ties;” five Writers Guild nominations for “Lou Grant;” five Humanitas Awards for “Lou Grant,” and “Family Ties;” as well as five additional Humanitas nominations; the Producers Guild Award as Producer of the Year in 1991 and the Valentine Davies Award from the Writers Guild in 1998 for his contributions to the entertainment industry and the community-at-large. In 2002 he won the Award of Excellence at Banff’s World Television Festival. In 2003 he was honored with the Outstanding Television Writer Award at the Austin Film Festival. Goldberg is a member of the Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame.

During its run “Brooklyn Bridge” received several honors—a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy Series, one Humanitas Prize and an additional Humanitas nomination for enriching television, a Christopher Award, two Viewers for Quality Television awards for Best Comedy, and eight Emmy nominations.
In 1989, Goldberg made his feature film debut when he produced and directed Universal Pictures’ “Dad,” starring Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson and Olympia Dukakis. He also wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by William Wharton. In 1995, Goldberg co-wrote “Bye Bye Love,” his second feature film, which starred Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine, and Randy Quaid.

In August of 2005, Gary wrote and directed Warner Bros.’ “Must Love Dogs.” The film starred Diane Lane and John Cusack, and was an adaptation of the Claire Cook novel of the same name.

Finally, Gary Goldberg is married to Dr. Diana Meehan, co-founder of the Archer School for Girls dedicated in 1995 to educating a diverse population of girls of Los Angeles. Today it is a highly successful model of the way girls learn. She is the author of the LA Times bestseller, Learning Like a Girl: Educating Our Daughters in Schools of Their Own. They have two children, Shana and Cailin. Shana is an Emmy-winning writer and producer for “Friends,” which she co-wrote/produced for 6 years with her husband, Scott Silveri. Cailin is a freelance writer and contributor to the Huffington Post.