Frasier and Home Improvement writer Charlie Hauck dies aged 79

Charlie Hauck, an Emmy-nominated writer and producer for Frasier and Home Improvement, has died at his home in Los Angeles aged 79. 

Hauck’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Flannery Cogan Hauck, with the cause of death being complications from pancreatic cancer on Saturday, November 14. 

As well as Frasier and Home Improvement, Hauck also worked on the sitcoms Maude and One Day At A Time and wrote an episode of M*A*S*H under a pseudonym as a favour to Larry Gelbert.  

Hauck was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, before moving to Pittsburgh to work as a reporter.

He eventually broke into the entertainment industry as a TV reporter and anchor at a Pittsburgh news station before moving to Los Angeles in 1974. 

Hauck’s 35-year career in television saw him co-create The Associates in 1979 and create Valerie Harper’s comedy Valerie in 1986.

He also authored Artistic Differences, a 1993 comic novel about a Hollywood comedy writer and the narcissistic star of his sitcom, which was a favourite with former President Bill Clinton. 

Maude creator Normal Lear told Deadline: ‘Nobody made me laugh harder, or more often, than Charlie Hauck. He defined “funny” and was a glorious man and friend.’

Hauck himself had said of his career in television: ‘The tricky thing about television is it is sort of like marksmanship: You say, “I could do that,” but not everybody can. 

‘As self-referential and formulaic and sappy as a lot of TV seems, even on the lower levels it is kind of difficult to do. On the higher levels — a good show on a good night — television can be quite exquisite and very difficult.’

Hauck is survived by his partner Logan Dalla Betta, daughter Flannery, sons Maurice, Seth and Perry, grandchildren Natasha and Oliver and sister Maryanne Straub.

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