Biography
Norman Abbott (July 11, 1922 – July 9, 2016) was an American vaudevillian, actor, producer and television director. Abbott was born in New York City, where his uncle, comedian Bud Abbott, and his mother raised him. His early experience in entertainment was as a vaudeville performer, including summers working the 'borscht circuit" in resorts in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In the early 1940s, he and Pat Costello (brother of Lou Costello) worked as stand-ins for the better-known act during filming of Who Done It? (1942).[3] During World War II, Abbott served as a member of the original United States Navy SEALs team. After the war, Abbott became a dialog director on the Abbott and Costello films and was mentored by the team's director, Charles T. Barton. Abbott later directed episodes of The Jack Benny Program, Leave It to Beaver, Get Smart, The Munsters, Welcome Back, Kotter, Dennis the Menace, and Sanford and Son. Abbott's obituary in The Hollywood Reporter described him as "the brainchild behind the Broadway sensation Sugar Babies, the comeback vehicle for Mickey Rooney in the late 1970s". He conceived the idea of a Broadway musical based on burlesque after inheriting h…
Directed
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The Munsters (1964) — Director
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Get Smart (1965) — Director
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The Brady Bunch (1969) — Director
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Sanford and Son (1972) — Director
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Leave It to Beaver (1957) — Director
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Charles in Charge (1984) — Director
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Alice (1976) — Director
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Welcome Back, Kotter (1975) — Director
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Adam-12 (1968) — Director
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Dennis the Menace (1959) — Director
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McHale's Navy (1962) — Director
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Love, American Style (1969) — Director
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Room 222 (1969) — Director
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When Things Were Rotten (1975) — Director
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Nanny and the Professor (1970) — Director
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That's My Mama (1974) — Director
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Fish (1977) — Director
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Bachelor Father (1957) — Director
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The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966) — Director
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Angie (1979) — Director
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I'm Dickens, He's Fenster (1962) — Director
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Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977) — Director
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Karen (1964) — Director
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California Fever (1979) — Director
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Working Stiffs (1979) — Director
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Nobody's Perfect (1980) — Director
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The All-Star Christmas Show (1958) — Director
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Blondie (1968) — Director
- Jack Benny's Bag (1968) — Director
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A Love Letter to Jack Benny (1981) — Director
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Once Upon a Tour (1972) — Director
Also appeared in
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Who Done It? (1942) — 'Murder at Midnight' Organist
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Grand Central Murder (1942) — Whistling Messenger (uncredited)
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Rio Rita (1942) — Hotel Laundry Boy (uncredited)
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The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950) — Self
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The Affairs of Martha (1942) — Newsboy (uncredited)
- Film '72 (1971) — Self
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Keep 'Em Slugging (1943) — Ape
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Anything Goes (1954) — Radio Announcer
- Empire of the Censors (1995) — Self
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Walking My Baby Back Home (1953) — Doc