Allan Burns

Allan Burns was an American television producer and screenwriter.

The Emmy-winner and Oscar-nominee was best known for co-creating and co-writing The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Burns attended the University of Oregon from 1953 to 1957 before moving to Los Angeles and venturing into show business. He began working in animation for Jay Ward Productions on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Dudley Do-Right, and George of the Jungle. Among his other accomplishments in the early part of his career was creating the Cap'n Crunch cartoon character for Quaker Oats.

Burns formed a writing partnership with Chris Hayward, and the team created The Munsters and My Mother The Car. They also worked as story editors for the CBS series He & She (with Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss), winning an Emmy Award for comedy writing. They also teamed as story editors on Get Smart.

In 1969, Burns joined forces with writer/producer James L. Brooks. Burns joined the writing staff of Room 222 and later produced the series. The team's work got the attention of Grant Tinker, who hired Burns and Brooks to develop a show for Mary Tyler Moore. The show premiered in 1970, and its popularity generated the spin-offs Lou Grant, Rhoda, and Phyllis. Burns also created The Duck Factory, a sitcom that launched the career of Jim Carrey.

Burns also had success in films, writing the screenplay for the 1979 film A Little Romance (with Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane), which earned him an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. In addition, Burns wrote the films Butch and Sundance: The Early Days in 1979 and Just the Way You Are in 1984. Burns made his feature film directorial debut with Just Between Friends in 1986, starring Moore, Ted Danson, and Christine Lahti.

Burns died January 30, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. He was 85.