David and Lynn Angell
"Words cannot express our sorrow at this incredible loss," said a statement from Paramount, which produces Frasier. "David has been at Paramount since 1983 and his grace, wit and humor will be deeply missed... Our hearts go out to their family and friends, especially David's partners, Peter Casey and David Lee."
Angell, Casey and Lee created and produced Frasier and Wings, and also served together on the Cheers writing staff. Together, the trio — whose company is named Grub Street Productions — has earned an impressive 37 Emmy nominations and won 24.
"David Angell was not only our partner, but also our friend for the past 16 years," Casey and Lee said in a statement. "He was a kind and gentle man with a quiet exterior that masked one of the sharpest comedy minds ever to write for television. His fingerprints are all over some of the funniest moments in Cheers, Wings and Frasier. What few know is that he was also a man of great faith — a quality that allowed him to navigate the shoals of the entertainment industry with unusual grace and level-headedness. It was our privilege to have known and worked with him.
"David's wife, Lynn, was the love of his life," the writers continued. "She epitomized Southern graciousness and charm... It is still impossible for us to imagine that they are gone."
While many other TV shows resumed production Wednesday, Frasier is expected to remain dark until Monday. — Daniel R. ColeridgeClose Window to Return toTBC Web Site
Mr Angell's colleagues Peter Casey and David Lee, who worked with him on the comedy Wings, paid tribute to him in a joint statement.
"He was a kind and gentle man with a quiet exterior that masked one of the sharpest comedy minds ever to write for television," they said.
"His fingerprints are all over some of the funniest moments in Cheers, Wings and Frasier."
Family wedding
Paramount, which produced Frasier, said the company was "devastated", adding that Mr Angell would be missed for his "grace, humour and talent".
Production of Frasier was suspended on hearing the news.
The NBC executive producer, 54, was on one of the doomed flights with his wife Lynn - American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, which crashed into the north tower of World Trade Center.
The information came first from Mr Angell's brother, the Most Reverend Kenneth Angell, who is bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington in Vermont.
Near record
The Reverend Angell said that the Angells were returning from their summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts, where they had just spent a family wedding weekend.
Frasier was nominated for two Emmy awards at the Primetime Emmys, originally due to take place on Sunday night but now postponed.
The show was nominated for best comedy, while actor Kelsey Grammer was nominated for best comedy actor for his role in the series.
It also won three awards at last Saturday's craft and technical Emmys.
This took its overall Emmy total to 27 - approaching the record 29 achieved by The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Actress
Another victim of the hijacking of American Airlines flight 11 was Berry Berenson, former wife of film star Anthony Perkins
Actress and photographer Berenson, 53, married Perkins in 1973.
She appeared in the 1978 film Remember My Name, which starred her husband, as well as the 1980 TV mini-series Scruples.
She was returning to her Hollywood Hills home after a holiday on Cape Cod.
Perkins died of Aids on 12 September 1992.
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CBS News
Showbiz Success Was No Shield
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,311030-412,00.shtml
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Fox News
TV Loses a Comic Genius
Cheers to David Angell, Gentle Comic Writer
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34340,00.html#1
TV writer and producer David Angell and his wife Lynn died on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston on Tuesday.
You've probably already read that Angell won a total of six Emmy Awards for his work on Frasier and Cheers. Altogether Angell wrote 10 episodes of Cheers during its heyday, and won an Emmy for an episode broadcast on November 17, 1983 called "Old Flames." In that one, a friend of Sam's bets that Sam and Diane can't stay together for 24 hours. It doesn't help that Sam still has his little black book and Diane finds out.
But some other classic Cheers episodes by Angell stand out in my mind. In particular, "Someone Single, Someone Blue" in which Glynis Johns plays Diane's wealthy mother who must marry Diane off in 24 hours or lose her inheritance. She winds up with the butler and the show is completely charming.
Also sweetly written was a memorable two-part show in which Coach falls in love, Sam makes a play for the woman's daughter and Coach's paramour dumps him when she wins the lottery.
Angell also wrote the 4th season cliffhanger in which Sam dates a councilwoman and almost marries her. He also introduced Harry Anderson (who went on to star in Night Court) as a con man magician who works the bar.
In the post-Shelley Long era, Angell was the author of another memorable episode that found Lilith discovering Frasier in bed with Rebecca. This episode had a dose of French farce that subsequently became the foundation for the show Frasier, which Angell helped write and produce.
Before the advent of the sitcom as a big bucks lure, writers like David Angell would have been playwrights or novelists. Certainly his talent was as good as any in either of those genres, and his contribution to Frasier (as well as Wings) gives him a place in the history books of TV. He excelled in a medium that does not embrace quality. He will be sorely missed.
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David Angell
Multiple Emmy Award winner David Angell is the creator/executive producer, along with Peter Casey and David Lee, of the hit comedy series FRASIER.
Angell and his Grub Street partners Casey and Lee have earned numerous awards and nominations, including a record-breaking fifth consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the 1997-98 television season. In the 1996-97 television season, they received their fourth consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and their third consecutive Viewers for Quality Television (VQT) Award. In the 1995-96 season, they won their unprecedented third consecutive Television Critics Association Award and their third consecutive BANFF Television Festival Rockie Award, a feat never accomplished in the 17-year history of that television festival. The second season (1994-1995) brought yet another Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, a Golden Globe, the Humanitas Prize and the prestigious Peabody. In its freshman season (1993-1994), FRASIER earned the producing trio an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode entitled "The Good Son," a People's Choice Award, a BANFF Award, a TCA Award and a Viewers for Quality Television endorsement.
A native of West Barrington, RI, Angell received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Providence College, entered the army upon graduation and served at the Pentagon until 1972. He then moved to Boston and worked as a methods analyst at an engineering company and then at an insurance firm in Rhode Island. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1977, he sold his first script to the producers of the "Annie Flynn" series. It was another five years before he sold his second script to "Archie Bunker's Place," after having done virtually every temporary job known to mankind. In 1983, he joined "Cheers" as a staff writer.
By 1985, Angell joined forces with Peter Casey and David Lee as "Cheers" supervising producers/writers. Since then, the trio has amassed 37 Emmy Award nominations and received 24 Emmy Awards, including the above-mentioned for FRASIER, as well as an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for "Cheers," in 1989, which Angell, Casey, Lee and the series' other producers shared, and Outstanding Writing/Comedy Emmy for "Cheers," which Angell received in 1984. After working together as producers on the hit comedy series "Cheers" for NBC-TV, Angell, Casey and Lee formed Grub Street Productions. In 1990, they created and executive produced the hit comedy series "Wings," which enjoyed much critical and ratings success during its seven season run.
Multiple Emmy Award winner David Angell is the creator/executive producer, along with Peter Casey and David Lee, of the hit comedy series FRASIER.
Angell and his Grub Street partners Casey and Lee have earned numerous awards and nominations, including a record-breaking fifth consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the 1997-98 television season. In the 1996-97 television season, they received their fourth consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and their third consecutive Viewers for Quality Television (VQT) Award. In the 1995-96 season, they won their unprecedented third consecutive Television Critics Association Award and their third consecutive BANFF Television Festival Rockie Award, a feat never accomplished in the 17-year history of that television festival. The second season (1994-1995) brought yet another Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, a Golden Globe, the Humanitas Prize and the prestigious Peabody. In its freshman season (1993-1994), FRASIER earned the producing trio an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, as well as an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode entitled "The Good Son," a People's Choice Award, a BANFF Award, a TCA Award and a Viewers for Quality Television endorsement.
A native of West Barrington, RI, Angell received a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Providence College, entered the army upon graduation and served at the Pentagon until 1972. He then moved to Boston and worked as a methods analyst at an engineering company and then at an insurance firm in Rhode Island. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1977, he sold his first script to the producers of the "Annie Flynn" series. It was another five years before he sold his second script to "Archie Bunker's Place," after having done virtually every temporary job known to mankind. In 1983, he joined "Cheers" as a staff writer.
By 1985, Angell joined forces with Peter Casey and David Lee as "Cheers" supervising producers/writers. Since then, the trio has amassed 37 Emmy Award nominations and received 24 Emmy Awards, including the above-mentioned for FRASIER, as well as an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for "Cheers," in 1989, which Angell, Casey, Lee and the series' other producers shared, and Outstanding Writing/Comedy Emmy for "Cheers," which Angell received in 1984. After working together as producers on the hit comedy series "Cheers" for NBC-TV, Angell, Casey and Lee formed Grub Street Productions. In 1990, they created and executive produced the hit comedy series "Wings," which enjoyed much critical and ratings success during its seven season run.
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