Jim Abrahams, writer-director of “Airplane!,” “Police Squad!” and the third leg of the Zucker Brothers trio that brought zany/deadpan comedy to screens and infinite dialogue quotes among the millions of friends who saw them, has died. He was 80.
Abrahams died Tuesday at his Santa Monica home of natural causes, THR reported Tuesday, according to his son Joseph.
With the brothers Jerry and David Zucker, his childhood friends from Wisconsin, Abrahams wrote the sketch-comedy “Kentucky Fried Movie” in 1977, directed by John Landis. The cult hit was also a modest box-office success with over $7 million, and the three were off to the races.
With Landis off to direct “Animal House,” Abrahams and the Zuckers, or ZAZ, took director duties on “Airplane!,” which – despite, but also because of, its relentlessly silly and juvenile gags – still stands among the most revered comedic films of any era.
The most quotable comedy of all time – surely – “Airplane!” grossed over $80 million in North America during its 1980 theatrical run, and raked more than that much in home-video sales and rentals in the decades to come.
Though ZAZ passed on the “Airplane!” sequel, they successfully ported their slapsticky humor over successful comedies like “Top Secret!,” “Ruthless People” and the “Naked Gun” franchise, a smash-hit film adaptation of their failed “Police Squad!” TV series, which aired only six episodes on ABC.
Abrahams is survived by wife Nancy Cocuzzo, three children, including Joseph, another son Charlie and his daughter, Jamie Abrahams, also a comedy writer.
