Craig Kellem, former agent for comic book legends George Carlin and Lily Tomlin, who served as producer on the chaotic first season of Saturday evening live and on the syndicated reboots of The Munsters, Flirting And Adam-12died. He was 82 years old.
Kellem died Nov. 24 at an assisted living facility in Wynnewood, Pa., his daughter Judy Hammett said. The Hollywood Reporter. She and her father were partners in Hollywoodscript.com, a script consulting company he founded in 1998.
After working alongside Lorne Michaels as producer and talent coordinator on SNLIn the inaugural 1975-76 season, he and Michaels produced The rules: all you need is casha 1978 NBC mockumentary about a Beatles-type band that was written, co-directed and starred by Eric Idle.
As senior vice president of the MCA-backed The Arthur Co., Kellem worked as co-executive producer for two seasons (1989-91) on The Munsters todaywhich ran for three years and starred John Schuck as Herman Munster and Lee Meriwether as his wife, Lily.
He also helped the shepherd The new netwith Jeff Osterhage and Bernard White, and The new Adam-12with Peter Parros and Ethan Wayne. Both shows aired for two seasons, 1989-91 and 1990-91 respectively.
Craig Charles Kellem was born in Philadelphia on January 24, 1943. His father was Milton Kellem, a popular bandleader, songwriter (“Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now”), restaurateur, and conductor for network radio programs, and his mother, Judy Shinn, was a model and meteorologist for local television stations.
Kellem started as an assistant at a talent agency, then became an agent at Creative Management Associates — where he was known as the “Road Runner of Madison Avenue” — and at General Amusement Corp., where, as a junior agent in the late 1960s, he hired Carlin when others at the company weren’t paying much attention to him.
He and Carlin reunited when the comic hosted the first episode of SNL.
“We almost didn’t get on the air because the dress rehearsal went so badly,” Kellem said in James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ 2002 book, Live from New York: The Complete Uncensored Story of Saturday Night Live. “I remember Lorne seriously asking the people at the network – or I asking them – to put a movie together, just in case. And I don’t think he was joking.”
Kellem had worked on Sammy Davis Jr.’s syndicated talk show. Sammy and company and on NBC The Gladys Knight and the Pips Show earlier in 1975 before landing on SNL.
He later served as Vice President of Comedy Development at Universal Television on shows such as Charles in charge And Domestic life and as director of development for late night, syndication and daytime at 20th Century Fox Television.
His producing credits included the 1976 NBC special. The Beach Boys: it’s goodwhich featured concert footage of Brian Wilson’s return to the stage, and two other shows from The Arthur Co: the 1990-91 syndicated sitcom What a model and the 1991-93 ABC reality series FBI: the untold storiesnarrated by Pernell Roberts.
He and his daughter wrote the 2018 book Get It on the Page: Top Script Consultants Show You How.
Survivors also include his wife, Vivienne; son Sean; another daughter, Joëlle; a brother; four grandchildren; and a niece and nephews. Donations in his memory can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“Although Craig had many amazing traits, he was perhaps best known for his incredible sense of humor,” his family noted. “His ability to bring deep laughter to any room was a gift to all who knew him.”
