Norman Steinberg, the co-writer of the Mel Brooks-fronted comedy “Blazing Saddles” and an Emmy winner for Flip Wilson’s Nineteen Seventies variety show, has died. He was 83.
Deadline reported Wednesday that Steinberg’s family said he died March 15, but didn’t provide further details.
The Post has contacted a rep for Steinberg for comment.
“It’s a tragic day when Norman Steinberg leaves us. From BLAZING SADDLES to MY FAVORITE YEAR, he was probably the greatest writers I ever worked with,” Brooks, 96, tweeted Wednesday.
“I’m so glad I rescued him from a dull stable legal profession, because he all the time permeated the writers room along with his infectious comic spirit,” he added.
Born in Brooklyn on June 6, 1939, Steinberg was working as a lawyer when he met Brooks within the Sixties at a Manhattan coffee shop, Deadline reported.
Brooks convinced him to quit his day job, and he moved to LA to put in writing.
Steinberg was one in every of the writers to win an Emmy in 1971 for NBC’s comedy-variety series “The Flip Wilson Show.”
Brooks hired him and dentist-turned-writer Alan Uger to pen the script for what would develop into “Blazing Saddles.”
The comedy was one in every of the hits of 1974, grossing $119.5 million on the domestic box office.
Steinberg’s other writing credits include “Yes, Giorgio” (1982), “My Favorite Yr” (1982), the Michael Keaton comedy “Johnny Dangerously” (1984), “Clever Guys” (1986), and “Funny About Love” (1990).
He also worked on the TV projects “Cosby” and “Paradise” and created “Doctor Doctor,” a CBS sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1991.
He wrote and executive produced Bob Saget’s sitcom “Raising Dad,” which aired from 2001 to 2002.
Steinberg is survived by his wife, Serine Hastings, and his children, Nik and Daphne, whom he shares along with his first wife, Bonnie Strock.
