Biography

Mel Tolkin was born on April 3, 1913 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was a writer and producer, known for All in the Family (1971), Joe's World (1979) and The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967). He was married to Edith Leibovitch. He died on November 26, 2007 in Century City, California, USA.

Father of screenwriters Michael Tolkin and Stephen Tolkin.

During a half-century in show business, he wrote comedy sketches for Sid Caesar, Danny Kaye, Danny Thomas, Jerry Lewis, and Bob Hope. He also wrote the theme music for "Your Show of Shows".

His family moved to Montreal when he was 13. After high school, he studied accounting. He began writing musical revues under the name "Mel Tolkin" so his parents wouldn't find out that he was involved in show business.

His younger brother Sol Tolchinsky (Montréal, 2 January 1929 - 1 December 2020, Montréal) was a Canadian basketball star who played in the 1948 Olympics. He was later a businessman.

[describing what it was like working on Your Show of Shows (1950), of which he was the head writer] A room full of raving madmen. And there I was at the center of it all, a Ukrainian Jew with a death wish.