Pat Proft

Pat Proft is an American comedy writer, actor, and director. Born in Minnesota in 1947, Proft began his career at Dudley Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis in the mid 1960s.[1] He went on to perform as a one-man comedy act in the late 1960s. In 1972, Proft began working at The Comedy Store in Hollywood which led to work in television and film writing for the Smothers Brothers and Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.[2]

Pat Proft
Born1947 (age 73–74)
Minnesota
OccupationScreenwriter
film producer
Years active1960s–present
Spouse(s)Karen Philipp

Of the many feature films Proft has written, Wrongfully Accused, is the only one he also directed. It was released in 1998.[3]

Proft continued to work with David Zucker, and in 2013 announced he was working on a parody film with Zucker involving the Jason Bourne and Mission: Impossible series.

Biography

Proft was born in 1947 in Minnesota.[4] Proft attended Columbia Heights High School where his English teacher Stuart J. Anderson encouraged Proft to develop his talent.[5] Proft would later perform at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre's stage, acting in musicals even though Proft felt that he "can't sing or dance".[5] In 1972, Proft moved to Hollywood where he began working at The Comedy Store.[5] Jerry and David Zucker saw some of Proft's work at the Comedy Store and would later invite him to join them at Kentucky Fried Theater.[5] Proft received a special thanks message in the credits of the film Airplane! (1980).[6]

Television career

In his early career, Proft wrote for several television and comedy variety shows. Proft was a regular on The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour that lasted from June to September 1973.[7][8] In 1975, Proft would also appear as a regular on Joey & Dad, a variety show featuring Joey Heatherton and her father.[9][10]

Proft would work as a screenwriter on the situation comedy show When Things Were Rotten developed by Mel Brooks and screened between September and December 1975.[11][12] The series a satire on the Robin Hood story and was well received by critics but was cancelled in 1975 due to low ratings.[11] In 1976, Proft was writing for Van Dyke and Company, a variety show that was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1977.[13]

Film career

In 1997, the film Mr. Magoo was released written by Proft and Tom Sherohman.[14] The film was based on the UPA cartoon series from the 1950s and 1960s about a nearsighted eccentric.[15]

The film received poor reviews [16] Variety stated that both Proft and Sherohman "have labored mightily to cobble together a plot capable of stretching to feature length the one-joke premise of the six-minute cartoons."[15]

In 1998, Proft's directoral debut titled Wrongfully Accused was released. The film was a parody of the thriller genre exemplified by The Fugitive (1993).[17] In the same year, Proft announced a parody of the Dirty Harry film series about an American police officer who heads to England to extradite a criminal without much success and a script titled Deep Titanic: Armageddon and Titanic, Too: It Missed the Iceberg which he also wanted to direct.[18] Titanic, Too: It Missed the Iceberg had actors Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley and David Hasselhoff in talks for starring with a release date originally aimed for early 1999.[19] CNN's film analyst Martin Grove stated the film was not likely to be made as two recent parody films Wrongfully Accused and Plump Fiction were not well received.[19]

In 2013, Proft was working on a script with David Zucker titled Counter Intelligence. Proft described the film as a "Naked Gun take on Mission Impossible and Bourne film series.[5] Zucker would discuss in 2017 that he was working on a script for a fourth Naked Gun film with Proft.[20]

Personal life

Proft is married to actress and singer Karen Philipp.[5]

Filmography

Feature credits
Year Film Credited as Role
Director Producer Executive producer Screenwriter Actor
1976 Tunnel Vision Yes Skipper[21][22]
1979 Fast Friends Yes Bill Owens[23]
1981 Modern Problems Yes Maitre d'[24][25]
1984 Police Academy Yes [26]
Bachelor Party Yes Yes Screaming Man[27][28]
1985 Real Genius Yes [29]
1988 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Yes [30]
Lucky Stiff Yes Yes [31]
1991 The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear Yes [32]
Hot Shots! Yes Yes [33]
1992 Brain Donors Yes [34]
1993 Hot Shots! Part Deux Yes Yes [35]
1994 Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult Yes [36]
1996 High School High Yes [37]
1997 Mr. Magoo Yes [38]
1998 Wrongfully Accused Yes Yes Yes [39]
2003 Scary Movie 3 Yes [40]
2006 Scary Movie 4 Yes [41]
2008 Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation Yes [42]
Mostly Ghostly Yes [43]
2013 Scary Movie 5 Yes [44]

Television credits

Notes
  1. Royce, Graydon. “Hello, Goodbye”. Minneapolist Star Tribune, July 21, 2011.
  2. Allon, Cullen and Patterson, 2002. p. 434
  3. "Pat Proft". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  4. Allon, Cullen and Patterson, 2002. p.431
  5. Pratt, Anna (December 23, 2013). "A screenwriter who never stops writing". Star Tribune. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  6. "Airplane!". American Film Institute. Retrieved September 23, 2014. The end credit crawl carries the following statement: “Special thanks to Kim Jorgensen, Pat Proft.”
  7. Terrace, 2013. p.41
  8. Brooks, 2009. p.198
  9. Brooks, 2009. p.708
  10. Terrace, 1985. p.218
  11. Brooks, 2009. p.1509
  12. Crick, 2009. p.187
  13. Hyatt, 2006. p.284
  14. Leydon, Joe (December 23, 1997). "Mr. Magoo". Variety. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  15. Leydon, Joe (December 23, 1997). "Mr. Magoo". Variety. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  16. "Mr. Magoo". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  17. Klady, Leonard (August 17, 1998). "Wrongfully Accused". Variety. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  18. Archerd, Amy (August 5, 1998). "Silver selling landmark home". Variety. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  19. Wolk, Josh (May 21, 1998). "Titanic". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  20. Skubish, Jake (March 30, 2017). "Director David Zucker talks "Airplane!", comedy, getting his start on campus". Daily Cardinal. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  21. "Tunnelvision". American Film Institute. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  22. "Tunnelvision". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  23. "Fast Friends (1979)". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  24. "Modern Problems (1979)". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  25. "Modern Problems". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  26. "Police Academy". American Film Institute. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  27. "Bachelor Party". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  28. "Bachelor Party". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  29. "Real Genius (1985)". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  30. "The Naked Gun from the Files of Police Squad!". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  31. "Lucky Stiff (1988)". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  32. "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  33. "Hot Shots!". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  34. "Brain Donors". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  35. "Brain Donors". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  36. "The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  37. "High School High". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  38. "Mr. Magoo". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  39. "Wrongfully Accused". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  40. "Scary Movie 3". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  41. "Scary Movie 4". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  42. "Bachelor Party 2: The Last Temptation". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  43. "R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  44. "Scary Movie V". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved September 24, 2014.

References
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