Buck Henry

Buck Henry

Highest Rated: 100% Taking Off (1971)

Lowest Rated: 13% Town & Country (2000)

Birthday: Dec 9, 1930

Birthplace: Not Available

Buck Henry's meek and mild, ordinary guy demeanor belies a razor-sharp dry, wry wit that he aptly applies to his screenplays, the roles he portrays, and the projects he directs. Born Buck Henry Zuckerman to a successful Wall Street broker (who was once an Air Force general) and actress Ruth Taylor, Henry launched his career as an actor at age 16, plying a small role in the Broadway version of Life With Father. During the Korean War, Henry served with the Seventh Army Repertory Company touring Germany performing in a musical comedy that he wrote and directed. During the '50s, Henry became somewhat famous for perpetrating the famous SINA hoax -- the acronym stands for the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals -- that made Henry a popular figure on talk shows where he would claim that naked animals were the cause of humanity's moral decay. In 1960, Henry worked briefly in an improvisational troupe before moving to the West Coast to write for the popular television satire That Was the Week That Was with hosts Steve Allen and Garry Moore. He and fellow comic Mel Brooks collaborated in 1964 to create the pilot for the successful spy spoof Get Smart. That year Henry also collaborated on the screenplay and starred in The Troublemaker, but it was not until Henry's second collaborative screenplay for The Graduate (1967) -- he also played a small role -- that he became one of Hollywood's most in-demand screenwriters. In 1973, he and Warren Beatty were Oscar nominated for their joint effort Heaven Can Wait, a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). In the film, Henry played the small but crucial role of the heavenly escort who goofs and brings a football player to heaven too soon. Henry was a periodic host on the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live during the '70s. Through the '80s and '90s, Henry continued to occasionally write screenplays and play supporting roles in feature films.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

Credit
52% The Humbling Screenwriter — 2015
73% Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles Actor $9.3K 2014
90% A Fuller Life Actor — 2014
94% Casting By Actor $14.5K 2013
30% A Bird of the Air Duncan Weber $10.7K 2011
89% It Came from Kuchar Actor — 2010
62% The Last Shot Lonnie Bosco $0.4M 2004
No Score Yet A Girl Thing Actor — 2001
58% Serendipity Glove Shopper (uncredited) $50M 2001
43% Lisa Picard Is Famous Himself — 2001
13% Town & Country Suttler $6.3M 2000
No Score Yet Curtain Call Charles Van Allsburg — 2000
26% Breakfast of Champions Fred T. Barry — 1999
40% I'm Losing You Philip Dragom $13.2K 1999
No Score Yet 1999 (A Good Clean Break) Actor — 1998
34% The Real Blonde Dr. Leuter — 1998
88% To Die For Screenwriter Mr. H. Finlaysson — 1995
No Score Yet Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron Havlicek — 1995
No Score Yet Shotgun Freeway Actor — 1995
19% Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Dr. Dreyfus — 1994
63% Grumpy Old Men Snyder — 1993
95% Short Cuts Gordon Johnson — 1993
No Score Yet Keep the Change Smitty — 1992
No Score Yet The Linguini Incident Cecil — 1992
98% The Player Himself — 1992
97% Defending Your Life Dick Stanley — 1991
50% Tune in Tomorrow... (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter) Fr. Serafim — 1990
19% Rude Awakening Lloyd — 1989
No Score Yet Dark Before Dawn Stevens — 1989
50% Aria Preston — 1988
25% Protocol Screenwriter — 1984
86% Eating Raoul Mr. Leech — 1982
20% First Family Director Fr. Sandstone Screenwriter — 1980
92% Gloria Jack Dawn — 1980
17% The Nude Bomb (The Return of Maxwell Smart) Screenwriter — 1980
56% Old Boyfriends Art Kopple — 1979
89% Heaven Can Wait Producer Director The Escort — 1978
83% The Man Who Fell to Earth Oliver Farnsworth — 1976
48% The Day of the Dolphin Actor Screenwriter — 1973
90% What's Up, Doc? Screenwriter — 1972
No Score Yet Is There Sex After Death? Dr. Louise Manos — 1971
100% Taking Off Larry Tyne — 1971
79% Catch-22 Lt. Col. Korn Screenwriter — 1970
80% The Owl and the Pussycat Screenwriter Man Looking Through Doubleday's Bookstore — 1970
50% Candy Screenwriter — 1968
No Score Yet The Secret War of Harry Frigg Stockade Commandant — 1968
86% The Graduate Screenwriter Room Clerk — 1967

TV

Credit
61% Franklin & Bash
2011-2014 		2013
No Score Yet Hot in Cleveland
2010-2015 		Fred Frank 2013
2011
No Score Yet Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999 		2012
85% 30 Rock
2006-2013 		Dick Lemon 2010
2007
82% Tales from the Crypt
1989-1996 		1992
No Score Yet Murphy Brown
1988 		1989
No Score Yet Saturday Night Live
1975 		Appearing Host Guest 1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
No Score Yet Get Smart
1965-1970 		Screenwriter 1966
1965

QUOTES FROM Buck Henry CHARACTERS

Gen. Dreedle says: Why aren't you wearing clothes, Captain?

Capt. Yossarian says: I don't wanna.

Gen. Dreedle says: What do you mean you don't want to, why the hell don't you?

Capt. Yossarian says: I don't know, I just don't wanna [laughs].

Gen. Dreedle says: Why isn't he wearing clothes?

Col. Korn says: [to Cathcart] He's talking to you.

Col. Cathcart says: Why isn't he wearing clothes, Major?

Major Major says: Why isn't he wearing clothes, Sergeant?

Col. Korn says: All you have to do is be our pal.

Col. Cathcart says: Say nice things about us.

Col. Korn says: Tell the folks at home what a good job we're doing. Take our offer, Yossarian.

Col. Cathcart says: Either that, or a court-martial for desertion.

Oliver Farnsworth says: More?

Thomas Jerome Newton says: More.

Oliver Farnsworth says: What the hell for?

Hotel Clerk says: Are you here for an affair, sir?