Friday, November 13, 2009

"Mary Tyler Moore" writer dies of prostate cancer

Even with all the treatments and cures for prostate cancer, the disease still kills at an alarming rate. In fact, the National Cancer Institute estimates that 27,360 men will die of prostate cancer this year.

One of those is "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Cheers" TV sitcom writer David Lloyd who died Tuesday. He was 75.

Lloyd won an Emmy for his script for the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode entitled "Chuckles Bites the Dust," often considered one of the best TV sitcom scripts ever written. That's the final minutes of the episode above, when the news staff visits the funeral for the TV clown.

After writing jokes for Jack Paar in 1962, Lloyd went on to work on the "The Bob Newhart Show," "Phyllis," "Rhoda," "Lou Grant," and "Taxi."

The family asks that donations be sent to the USC Westside Prostate Cancer Center.

More on Lloyd's work and reactions to his death at the LA Times.

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