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class of 1960
inducted in 1987
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Kenny Solms
Television Writer &
Producer
Kenny Solms began his professional
career in New York, teamed with New York University classmate Gail Parent to write revue
material for Leonard Sillman's Broadway revue New Faces of 1968 and for New York's famed Upstairs at the Downstairs. His
association with Ms. Parent subsequently became one of the most successful
collaborations in American comedy.
Following the runway success of three comedy albums (including Our Wedding
Album, a hilarious spoof of the Luci Baines Johnson wedding) and a season on
Steve Allen's Comedy Hour, Solms created and wrote the first four seasons of
the Emmy Award-winning Carol Burnett Show for which he received an award from
the Writers Guild of America. He wrote numerous television specials for such
stars as Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret, Mary Tyler Moore, Bing Crosby, Dick Van
Dyke, Anne Bancroft, and Bill Cosby. His writing of Sills and Burnett at the
Met earned him a Peabody Award. Solms wrote and produced The Smothers
Brothers Comedy Hour, Three Girls Three and two HBO specials starring Carol
Burnett and Martin Mull.
Solms wrote the book for the Jule Styne/Comden & Green musical Lorelei,
which starred Carol Channing. He was reunited with Gail Parent when they
adapted her novel Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York into a motion picture starring Roy
Scheider and Jeannie Berlin. Solms has been head writer and producer for
numerous television variety specials including Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration and Neil
Diamond's Hello Again.
Solms also wrote and produced the HBO special Bruce Wills: The Return of
Bruno, Burnett Discovers Domingo for CBS, This Is Your Life, Kelsey Grammer
Salutes Jack Benny, and is a frequent contributer to Touched by an Angel. He
is currently writing a new musical for Broadway, Ain't That a Kick in the
Head, based on the songs of Sammy Cahn.
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