Carl Gottlieb

Carl Gottlieb (born March 18, 1938) is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian, and executive. He is best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws (1975) and its first two sequels, as well as directing the 1981 film Caveman.

Carl Gottlieb
Gottlieb in 2009
Born	(1938-03-18) March 18, 1938 (age 87) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor comedian screenwriter executive
Period	1966–present
Genre	Comedy, thriller
Notable works	Jaws

Early life

Gottlieb was born to a middle class Jewish family^[1] in New York City, the son of Elizabeth, a medical administrative assistant, and Sergius M. Gottlieb, an engineer.^[2]

Gottlieb studied drama at Syracuse University where he befriended character actor Larry Hankin.^[3] After graduating, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving as an entertainment specialist in the Special Services division from 1961 to 1963.^[4][5] Following his discharge, he became a member, later in the 1960s, of the San Francisco improvisational comedy troupe The Committee. They made one feature film: A Session with the Committee.

Career

He began writing comedy for TV, contributing to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for which he won an Emmy Award in 1969, The Music Scene, The Bob Newhart Show, All in the Family, and The Odd Couple. He also appeared on camera on Ken Berry's Wow Show variety summer television program in 1972. Minor acting roles have included Robert Altman's M*A*S*H and the film Clueless.

Gottlieb also cowrote David Crosby's two autobiographies, 1989's Long Time Gone and 2006's Since Then.

Jaws

Gottlieb was hired as an actor to appear as Harry Meadows, the editor of the local newspaper, in Jaws. He was hired by his friend, Steven Spielberg, to redraft the script, adding more dimensions to the characters, particularly humor. His redrafts reduced the role of Meadows (who still appears in the Town Hall corridor and the Tiger Shark scene).

He wrote a book, The Jaws Log, about the notoriously difficult production of the film.^[6][7]

He was enlisted under similar circumstances to work on the Jaws 2 screenplay. He co-wrote the screenplays for The Jerk, in which he played Iron Balls McGinty, and Jaws 3-D. Gottlieb contributes to Jaws related activities, such as interviews (including the documentary The Shark Is Still Working) and attended JawsFest on Martha's Vineyard in June 2005.

Writers' politics

Gottlieb joined the Writers Guild of America in 1968 and became interested in Guild politics and with a desire to serve fellow writers following writers' strikes in the 1970s and 1981. He was elected to the Board of Directors in 1983, and re-elected for numerous terms thereafter, including two stints as vice-president (1991–1994). He was again appointed VP of the Writers Guild of America, West in 2004^[8] and served until the following year.^[9] In September 2011, he was elected as WGA-West secretary-treasurer.^[10]

Filmography

Feature films

As writer only

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1975	Jaws	Steven Spielberg	Credited with Peter Benchley Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Nominated - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
1977	Which Way Is Up?	Michael Schultz	Credited with Cecil Brown
1978	Jaws 2	Jeannot Szwarc	Credited with Howard Sackler
1979	The Jerk	Carl Reiner	Credited with Steve Martin & Michael Elias
1983	Jaws 3-D	Joe Alves	Credited with Richard Matheson
	Doctor Detroit	Michael Pressman	Credited with Bruce Jay Friedman & Robert Boris

As director

Year	Title	Notes
1977	The Absent-Minded Waiter	Short Film
1981	Caveman	Also Writer
1987	Amazon Women on the Moon	Co-Directed with Joe Dante, Peter Horton, John Landis & Robert K. Weiss Directed Segments: Pethouse Video, Son of the Invisible Man, Art Sale & Peter Pan Theatre

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Maryjane	Larry Kane
1970	MASH	'Ugly John'
1972	Up the Sandbox	Vinnie
	Something Evil	Party Guest	TV Movie
1973	The Long Goodbye	Wade Party Guest	Uncredited
1975	Jaws	Ben Meadows
1976	Cannonball	Terry McMillan
1979	The Jerk	Iron Balls McGinty
1983	The Sting II	Maitre D'
1984	Johnny Dangerously	Dr. Magnus
1985	Into the Night	Federal Agent
1995	Clueless	Priest
2017	Decker	Himself	TV Series: 1 Episode