Director

Harvey Kurtzman

Writing

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Directed credits

Emerging

Beginning to build directing work.

TMDB popularity

0.1

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Directed movies: 0Directed series: 0All crew credits: 2

TMDB ID: 1163985

IMDb ID: nm0476069

Known for: Writing

Born: October 3, 1924

Died: February 21, 1993

Age: 68

Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1967 - 2025

Years active: 59

Average TMDB rating: 7.32

Wikidata: Q732474

Frequent jobs

Creator (1)Writer (1)

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Biography

One of the most influential, yet unsung, figures in American humor, cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman created "Mad Magazine" in 1952, and for the next few years served as its editor and primary writer. After his departure from "Mad, " he created two more humor magazines, "Trump" and "Help!" Although neither was as successful as "Mad", "Help!" did help launch the careers of a number of future luminaries, including Woody Allen, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Robert Crumb and Gloria Steinem. Kurtzman's sole foray into screenwriting, the animated Mad Monster Party? (1967), demonstrates much of the famous "Mad" comedy (including a reference to one of the magazine's trademark nonsense words, "veeblefetzer") and has developed a strong cult following.