Brandon Tartikoff
Mount Sinai Memorial Park
Though not a performer,
Brandon Tartikoff left a strong and deep impression on the world of entertainment
during his short life, when he was the golden boy of NBC television in the 1980s.
Tartikoff became the youngest entertainment president of a
major network when he took over NBC in 1980 at the age of 30. He brought
the network from worst to first in the ratings in the 1980s with shows including
"Hill Street Blues," "Cheers," "L.A. Law," "The Cosby Show," "St. Elsewhere,"
"The A-Team," "Miami Vice" and "Seinfeld." Under Tartikoff's leadership,
NBC was the top-rated network for five consecutive seasons.
After graduating from Yale University, Tartikoff worked in a
series of jobs in television and advertising on the East Coast before coming
to Los Angeles to look for a job in network television. His big break came
when Fred Silverman, head of programming at ABC, hired him as the network's
director of dramatic development in 1976. A year later, he went to NBC to
supervise comedy programming. Three years later, he was in charge of all
of the network's entertainment offerings, and remained in that position for
11 years. Tartikoff even played himself in episodes of the television
series "Night Court" and "Saved by the Bell."
After leaving NBC, Tartikoff became 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 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, and 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 American Online to oversee the development of original interactive
entertainment for the online service.
Tartikoff was first diagnosed 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 at
the age of 48.
Tartikoff's widow, Lilly -- a former dancer with the New York City
Ballet -- has became one of the country's leading fund-raisers for cancer
research. She has raised literally tens of millions of dollars to fight
breast and ovarian cancer, she created the National Women's Cancer Research
Alliance, and 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."
Tartikoff was born on Jan. 13, 1949, in Freeport, NY. He
died on Aug. 27, 1997, in Los Angeles, CA.
1949 - 1997
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