Buck Henry
Biography
Born in New York City, Buck Henry was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. He worked on The New Steve Allen Show and the American version of That Was the Week That Was before co-creating the secret-agent comedy Get Smart with Mel Brooks, which earned him a Primetime Emmy for comedy writing. He shared an Academy Award nomination with Calder Willingham for the screenplay of The Graduate (1967), in which he played a hotel desk clerk. He acted in Catch-22 (1970), co-written with Mike Nichols, and in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). With Warren Beatty, he co-directed Heaven Can Wait (1978), receiving an Oscar nomination for directing and playing an angel. He hosted Saturday Night Live ten times from 1976 to 1980, and later wrote To Die For (1995) while appearing in films such as The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), and Grumpy Old Men (1993).
89years old at death
- Born New York City
- Died Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- Star sign: SagittariusThe sign runs November 22 to December 21
- Henry Zuckerman (birth name)Also credited as Buck Henry Zuckerman
Movie Career
- Films
- 23
- Career span
- 47 years1967 to 2014
Genres
- Comedy78%, 18 films
- Drama48%, 11 films
- Romance22%, 5 films
- Crime17%, 4 films
- Documentary13%, 3 films
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Behind the camera
Buck Henry co-created Get Smart with Mel Brooks, and the show lasted five seasons and 138 episodes, winning numerous Emmy Awards.
Getting ready for a role
In The Player, Buck Henry played himself and pitched a sequel to The Graduate set 25 years later. Henry later said some studios showed real interest in such a project.
A change of course
Buck Henry performed in Manhattan's West Village with the improvisational comedy group the Premise, which also counted George Segal and Theodore J. Flicker among its members. The experience helped lead him into a television career.
Buck Henry movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Mike Nichols directed two of these films, Gus Van Sant two. Norman Fell appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Norman Fell's page
John Hurt's page
Ed Begley Jr.'s page
Daryl Hannah's page
Andrea Martin's page
Allen Garfield's page
Mike NicholsDirector, 2 films, 1967 to 1970
All films by Mike Nichols
All films by Gus Van Sant
Also two films together4 more actors
- David BowieThe Linguini Incident (1991) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
- Charles GrodinHeaven Can Wait (1978) and Catch-22 (1970)
- Hamilton CampEating Raoul (1982) and Heaven Can Wait (1978)
- Richard BenjaminMagician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014) and Catch-22 (1970)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Box office
What Buck Henry's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$329 million
10 of the 23 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 23 films: 10 worldwide figure; 6 us gross only; 2 never in cinemas; 5 figure not found.
- 10Worldwide figure
- 6US gross only
- 2Never in cinemas
- 5Figure not found
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$105M31.9% of the total
- 2$99M30.0% of the total
- 3$70M21.3% of the total
- 4$25M7.6% of the total
- 5$21M6.5% of the total
- 6$4.1M1.2% of the total
- 7$3.2M1.0% of the total
- 8$1.0M0.3% of the total
$624,818from the other 2 films with a worldwide figure, 0% of the total
Awards
Four awards and honors, three of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAFTA | |||
| Best Screenplay | Won | ||
| Emmy Awards | |||
| 1967 | Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series | Get Smart | Won |
| Emmy Award | Won | ||
| Other honors | |||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Won | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.