Leonard Stern

Leonard Stern may be best known as one of the creators of the universally popular word game Mad Libs, but he also played a prominent role in the success of some of the most popular television shows of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Stern got his start in show business as a writer for the variety classic "The Jackie Gleason Show," for which he earned credits on over 20 episodes from 1953 through 1956. In 1957, he won an Emmy Award for his work on the military-set comedy "The Phil Silvers Show." But it was with the arrival of the hit spy spoof "Get Smart" that Stern truly left his mark on television, serving as a writer and executive producer for the Buck Henry-created series from 1965 through 1968; he won another Emmy Award for his work on the show in 1967. From there, Stern worked again with his old friend Jackie Gleason on another show, also titled "The Jackie Gleason Show" from 1967 through 1968, before earning additional executive producer and writer credits for the popular crime drama "McMillan & Wife" from 1971 through 1977. Stern continued working through to the early 1990s, including several more "Get Smart"-related outings like the 1980 movie "The Nude Bomb" and the 1989 revival series "Get Smart, Again!" starring a young Andy Dick as the son of the original Agent 86.