Sherwood Charles Schwartz (born November 14, 1916) is an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC. On March 7, 2008, Schwartz, still ebullient at ninety-one, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Schwartz's entertainment career came "by accident". He relocated from New York to southern California to pursue a master of science degree in biology. In need of employment, he began writing jokes for Bob Hope's radio program, for which Schwartz's brother, Al Schwartz, worked. Schwartz recalled that Hope "liked my jokes, used them on his show and got big laughs. Then he asked me to join his writing staff. I was faced with a major decision — writing comedy or starving to death while I cured those diseases. I made a quick career change."
He went on to write for Ozzie Nelson's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and other radio shows.
He was a writer on the Armed Forces Radio Network before he got his big break in television
Schwartz went on to create and produce Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver, Alan Hale, and Dawn Wells, and The Brady Bunch with Florence Henderson and Robert Reed. He wrote the theme song for three of his shows: Gilligan's Island (co-wrote), It's About Time, and The Brady Bunch.
Wells and Henderson appeared with Schwartz as he received his Walk of Fame honor.
On November 10, 2006, his play Rockers opened in Theater West in California.
In 1990, he wrote the play Gilligan's Island: The Musical which is still in production to this day. His son Lloyd, daughter Hope, and son-in-law Laurence Juber worked on the play.
He wrote and Executive Produced these two pilots
He also was in the works of creating a pilot for Phil Silvers during the 1966-1967 television series called The Help.
During the late 1990s and the 2000s, he has made many appearances on TV talking about his series, on shows such as the CBS Evening News, 20/20, TV Land's Top Ten and A&E's Biography. He also took part in a "Creators" marathon on Nick at Nite in the late 1990s. He was also a guest at the 2004 TV Land Awards.
In 1988 Schwartz appeared on The Late Show with Ross Shafer for a Gilligan's Island reunion, along with all seven castaways from Gilligan's Island. This was the last time they were all together on television; castaways Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Bob Denver, and Alan Hale, Jr. have since died.
Schwartz was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He is Jewish.
In his 1988 book Inside Gilligan's Island, he mentions he did not get along well with Red Skelton. In his early years as head writer it was in his contract that Schwartz would not have to meet face-to-face with Skelton. He named his daughter "Hope" after Bob Hope, whom he had good relations with. He is the father of Lloyd J. Schwartz, creator of The Munsters Today.
