That, obviously, is not a picture of Hal Kanter. It's a shot of Diahann Carroll and Marc Coppage in the TV show Julia created by Hal Kanter. Hal would have praised my selection and said, "Who'd want to look at me when they could look at her?"
Launching TV's first starring vehicle for a black woman who wasn't a maid would be enough to get Hal into the history books if he'd done nothing else. As it turns out, he did plenty else including writing for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby (individually and collectively), directing Elvis Presley, producing (at times) Chico and the Man and All in the Family, writing on the Academy Awards telecast for over thirty years and being one of the funniest speakers at luncheons, dinners, roasts, etc. Even in his nineties (he died Sunday at the age of 92), he was still hilarious and, as they say of certain young comics, edgy. We occasionally shared a dais and I was always happy not to have to follow Hal.
Comic book fans may be interested to know that Hal's father Albert Kanter was the founder of Classics Illustrated, and Hal worked briefly for the firm. He told me once he probably would have stayed in the comic book business had he not landed a job writing radio comedy at an early age.
He was a good man, universally loved and respected in the TV and movie communities. And he had one of the most extraordinary careers of anyone who ever knew how to write a funny line.
P.S., added later: Just found a photo of Hal Kanter. He'd say, "You're still better off with a picture of Diahann."
