In Remembrance: Ted Berkman

     Ted Berkman, the screenwriter who wrote the story for the comedy Bedtime For Bonzo (1951) and scripted the drama Fear Strikes Out (1957), has passed away on May 12, 2006 in Santa Barbara, CA. He was 92.

     Born on January 9, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York, Berkman graduated Cornell University in 1933 and served as a photo assignment editor for the New York Mirror newspaper. During this time Berkman also adapted Graham Greene’s crime story The Green Cockatoo and the Edgar Wallace story The Squeaker into screenplays. Both films were released in 1937.

     During World War II, he served in the United States Army as the Middle East chief of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service. After the war he stayed in the region, working as a correspondent for ABC radio.

     Berkman returned to Hollywood briefly in 1951, contributing the story for the Ronald Reagan comedy Bedtime For Bonzo. In 1957, he scripted Fear Strikes Out. Based on the best selling book, the film told the true life story of Boston Red Sox out fielder Jimmy Piersall (played by Anthony Perkins) and his struggle with mental illness. Berkman wrote three additional films over the course of his career- Short Cut To Hell (1957), Edge Of Fury (1958) and Girl Of The Night (1960).

     In 1962 Berkman published the biography Cast A Giant Shadow: The Story Of Mickey Marcus, Who Dies To Save Jerusalem, the story of a West Point graduate who served as a military advisor to Israel during the country’s 1948 War of Independence. The film was adapted into 1966 film with Kirk Douglas in the lead role.