DAVID, Larry 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born July 2, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY; married Laurie Lennard (a talent coordinator), 1993; children: two daughters. Education: University of Maryland, B.A. (history), 1970.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Endeavor, 9701 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Fl., Beverly Hills, CA 90212; (manager) 3 Arts Entertainment, 9460 Wilshire Blvd., 7th Fl., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER:

Writer, producer, director, actor, and comedian. Worked variously as a cab driver, chauffeur, and bra salesman. Fridays (television series), American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), actor (various characters), 1979-82, writer, 1980-82; Seinfeld (television series), National Broadcasting Company (NBC), executive producer and writer, 1989-96, actor (various roles), 1991-95; Sour Grapes (movie), Columbia Pictures, director, writer, and actor, 1998; Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm (special), Home Box Office (HBO), executive producer, writer, and actor, 1999; Curb Your Enthusiasm (television series), HBO, executive producer, writer, and actor, 2000—; Envy (movie), executive producer, 2004. Appearances as an actor in films, including (as Monroe Clerk) Second Thoughts, Universal, 1983; (as Mort's friend at café) Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?, Jagfilm, 1983; (as communist neighbor) Radio Days, Orion, 1987; and (as theater manager, "Oedipus Wrecks") New York Stories, Buena Vista, 1989.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Emmy awards for outstanding comedy series and (with Jerry Seinfeld) outstanding individual achievement in writing in a comedy series, both 1993, both for Seinfeld; PGA Laurel Award (with Seinfeld) for most promising producer in television, 1994; American Film Institute Star Award, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, 1999; Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a television series, Golden Globe award for best comedy series, and nine Golden Globe nominations, and Emmy award for outstanding comedy series, all 2002, and Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, 2003, all for Curb Your Enthusiasm.

WRITINGS:

TELEVISION SCRIPTS

Fridays, ABC, 1980-82.

Saturday Night Live, NBC, 1984-85.

The Original Talking Max Headroom Show, Cinemax, 1987.

The Seinfeld Chronicles (pilot), NBC, 1989.

(And executive producer) Seinfeld, NBC, 1989-96, 1998.

(And executive producer) Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm (special), HBO, 1999.

(And executive producer) Curb Your Enthusiasm (series), HBO, 2000.

SCREENPLAYS

(And director) Sour Grapes, Columbia, 1998.

SIDELIGHTS:

Larry David is cocreator of the series Seinfeld, as well as his more recent hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, both of which have garnered many awards. In addition, David is an actor, comedian, producer, and director who has worked primarily in television, but also on stage and in film.

David grew up in Brooklyn and developed a comedy routine that he began performing in New York clubs during the 1970s. Jerry Seinfeld was also doing stand-up at the time, and the two became friends, meeting for coffee and bouncing the kind of dialogue off each other that eventually found its way into their collaboration. David wrote and performed on the late-night comedy series Fridays from 1980-82. He then wrote for Saturday Night Live for a brief period and had roles in several films.

Meanwhile, Seinfeld's star was growing bright. He was asked by NBC to develop a sitcom, and he asked David to work with him. They came up with the idea for Seinfeld while shopping in a grocery store, and David modeled the George Costanza character, played by Jason Alexander, after himself. The show took off, particularly after it replaced Cheers on Thursday nights, and in 1993, executive producer David claimed the Emmy for outstanding comedy series. David left the show in 1996 but returned to work on the finale, which aired on May 14, 1998. The collaboration with Seinfeld was also financially rewarding; when the long-running series went into syndication, they each received more than 200 million dollars.

Sour Grapes, a film David wrote, produced, and starred in, was released as Seinfield was ending. It is about sneaker-sole designer Richie (Craig Bierko) who wins a slot-machine jackpot and who won't share the money with his brain surgeon cousin Evan (Steven Weber), who gave him the quarters to play. While the movie was not universally acclaimed, Leonard Klady wrote in Variety that "the resulting strife is palpable, and sitcom vet Larry David takes the situation to comic extremes."

In 1999, David's HBO special Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm was so well received that the network commissioned the series. Curb Your Enthusiasm is a largely unscripted show in which David plays himself and populates his scripts with guest celebrities who either play themselves or character roles. The show is unpredictable, since the cast members improvise, using only scene outlines as guidance. As David the character goes about his day, he gets himself into situations that tend to be uncomfortable and edgy.

Maclean's critic Patricia Hluchy wrote that "there's a strong sense of Larry as Everyman, and much of the comedy's strength lies in his ability to both appall and endear himself to viewers." Douglas Perry did an online review of Curb Your Enthusiasm for the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram, saying, "I want to be Larry David … because David knows what's important." Perry recalled episodes such as the one in which David's character squashes a big television deal because a network honcho steals shrimp out of his carry-out and won't admit it, and added that "these may seem like small, or indeed twisted, examples of what's important, but they're the kind of things that can make a man into a hero for our time."

Jeff Garlin plays David's manager, and Cheryl Hines his wife. David met his real-life partner, Laurie, when she was booking talent for Late Night with David Letterman. She told Esquire critic Scott Raab a story about when they first started dating. "I literally sat down with a girlfriend, and on a paper place mat I wrote 'Pro' and 'Con.' The 'Con' list had fifteen, twenty things on it.… He was this comedian who'd walk off stages if everybody wasn't paying attention.…He never did anything to try to be successful, not for one second. He just pursued his craft. The 'Pro' list had one thing on it: He's funny."

Mark Lasswell of TV Guide felt that Curb Your Enthusiasm "has the faux-documentary spirit of This Is Spinal Tap and the raw essence of Seinfeld's sidesplitting humor, without the network-comedy gloss. It's plotted with exquisite precision, and yet almost all of the dialogue is improvised." He added that the show "is about one man's sticking to his off-kilter personal code of behavior." Lasswell quoted comedian Richard Lewis, a longtime friend of David's who appears frequently on Curb Your Enthusiasm, as putting it another way: "Larry really gets bugged if people don't follow his thought patterns. But it should be clearer to him by now that he's far more of an alien than the rest of us. It just hasn't sunk in."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, September 20, 2002, Dan Snierson, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm and interview with David, p. 64.

Esquire, March, 2002, Scott Raab, interview with David, pp. 142-148.

Maclean's, February 10, 2003, Patricia Hluchy, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 48.

New Republic, January 13, 2003, Lee Siegel, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 23.

New Statesman, August 21, 1998, Andrew Billen, "Seinfeld," p. 43; March 3, 2003, Andrew Billen, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 47.

Newsweek, April 27, 1998, David Ansen, "Sour Grapes," p. 72.

New York Times, July 22, 2001, Maureen Dowd, "Blubber for Breakfast: Fear and Self-loathing in L.A.," p. WK13.

People, October 23, 2000, Terry Kelleher, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 37.

Psychiatric Times, February 1, 2003, Harvey Roy Greenberg, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 18.

Star-Telegram (Dallas-Fort Worth), May 30, 2003, Douglas Perry, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

TV Guide, May 9, 1998, Jeanne Wolf, interview with David, pp. 30, 32; November 24, 2001, Mark Lasswell, "Hollywood and Whine," pp. 58, 61, 69.

Variety, April 13, 1998, Leonard Klady, review of Sour Grapes, p. 27; October 16, 2000, Phil Gallo, review of Curb Your Enthusiasm, p. 45.

ONLINE

Onion A.V. Club,http://www.theavclub.com/ (April 23, 1998), Stephen Thompson, interview with David.*