Aug. 23, 2009 -- Brandon Tartikoff was the golden boy of NBC television in the 1980s, turning it into the top-rated TV network for five consecutive seasons. He was to television what Irving Thalberg had been to movies a generation earlier -- and, like Thalberg, he died much too young, at the height of his creative and professional powers, leaving the world to wonder what might have been.
Tartikoff became the youngest president of a major network when he took over NBC in 1980 at the age of 30. He quickly brought the network from worst to first in the ratings in the 1980s with shows including "Hill Street Blues," "Cheers," "The Cosby Show," "Miami Vice," "L.A. Law," "St. Elsewhere," "The Golden Girls," "Knight Rider," "ALF," "Family Ties," "Hunter," "Highway to Heaven," "Matlock," "Remington Steele, "Empty Nest" and "The A-Team."
After graduating from Yale University, Tartikoff worked in a series of jobs in television and advertising on the East Coast and in Chicago before coming to Los Angeles to look for a job in network television. His big break came with Fred Silverman, head of programming at ABC, hired him as the network's director of dramatic development in 1976. A year later, he was hired by Dick Ebersol to supervise comedy programming at NBC. Three years later, he was in charge of all of the network's entertainment offerings, and he remained in that position for 11 years. Tartikoff even played himself in episodes of the television series "Night Court," "ALF" and "Saved by the Bell." He also hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 1983.
After leaving NBC, Tartikoff became the head of Paramount Pictures in 1991. A little more than a year after taking the job, Tartikoff suddenly resigned to spend more time with his family after his daughter, Calla, was seriously injured in a car accident and was undergoing rehabilitation. After she recovered, Tartikoff became head of New World Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. He also ran his own production company, called H. Beale, named after a character in the movie "Network" (1976). Shortly before his death, Tartikoff was hired by America Online to oversee the development of original interactive entertainment programming for the online service.
Tartikoff was first diagnozed with Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph nodes, when he was 23, but he kept his illness quiet while he was working at NBC. He was undergoing chemotherapy treatments when he died in 1997, at the age of 48.
Tartikoff's widow, Lilly -- a former dancer with the New York City Ballet -- has become one of the country's leading fundraisers for cancer research. She has raised tens of millions of dollars to fight breast and ovarian cancer, she created the National Women's Cancer Research Alliance, and she is the co-founder of the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. Lilly Tartikoff also helped create the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program, which raises money with its annual "Fire and Ice Ball" and the Revlon Run/Walk in Los Angeles and New York City.
Tartikoff's grave marker includes the inscription: "The Last Great Ride -- We miss your energy, fun, brilliance and love every minute."
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