---
name: "Herb Gardner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/herb-gardner"
roles: ["Producer"]
born: "28 December 1934"
died: "23 September 2003"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-09-20T04:34:06.833658+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Herb Gardner

Producer. Born 28 December 1934 in Brooklyn. Died 23 September 2003.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer
- **Born:** 28 December 1934, Brooklyn
- **Died:** 23 September 2003
- **Active:** 1965–1987
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 writing
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 76 (1), 1980s 72 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Gardner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113570, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0306949/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/144256

## Biography

Herb Gardner (1934–2003) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He began his career as a commercial artist and cartoonist, creating the syndicated strip *The Nebbishes* in the late 1950s before turning to writing plays and screenplays.

Gardner is best known for his 1962 play *A Thousand Clowns*, which he adapted into the 1965 film of the same name; the screenplay earned him an Academy Award nomination. His later play *I'm Not Rappaport* (1985) won the Tony Award for Best Play and was adapted into a 1996 film. Other works include the plays *The Goodbye People* and *Conversations with My Father*, several of which he adapted for the screen.

Educated at New York's High School of Performing Arts, Carnegie Mellon University and Antioch College, Gardner drew on his Brooklyn upbringing for his character-driven comedies set in New York.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1)

- *Ishtar* (1987), Fi1m 72, as Rabbi Pierce — [page](https://film.one/film/ishtar.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *A Thousand Clowns* (1965), Fi1m 76, Associate Producer, Screenplay, Theatre Play — [page](https://film.one/film/a-thousand-clowns.md)

## Complete filmography (10)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Strangers in the Park* (2026), Theatre Play
- *I'm Not Rappaport* (1996), Director, Theatre Play, Screenplay
- *Ishtar* (1987), as Rabbi Pierce — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/ishtar.md)
- *The Goodbye People* (1984), Theatre Play, Screenplay, Director
- *Thieves* (1977), Theatre Play, Screenplay
- *Free to Be… You and Me* (1974), Story
- *The Way We Were* (1973), as Additional Writing
- *Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?* (1971), Producer, Screenplay
- *Caught in the Middle* (1970), Director
- *A Thousand Clowns* (1965), Screenplay, Theatre Play, Associate Producer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/a-thousand-clowns.md)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1966: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *A Thousand Clowns*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/herb-gardner