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Hollywood just became a less funny place.
Buck Henry, the legendary screenwriter of “The Graduate” and the Emmy-winning co-creator of TV’s spy spoof “Get Smart,” died Wednesday of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital, according to reports. He was 89.
Henry was also known as an early regular host on “Saturday Night Live” while racking up dozens of writing credits, including the Barbra Streisand-starring movies “What’s Up Doc?” (1972) and “The Owl and the Pussycat” (1970.)
Streisand mourned his death and praised his work.
Henry earned an Oscar nomination for adapting the screenplay for “The Graduate” (1967) and also for co-directing “Heaven Can Wait” (1978) with Warren Beatty.
He once offered sound advice on overcoming writer’s block.
“So the best secret is — and it’s not a secret — is just when [you] get stuck in a scene, write nonsense,” he said in a 2009 interview. “But do something to keep your hand moving, doing something on the page. That’s all. There are no great insights.”
Among more than 60 acting credits, he memorably appeared somewhat recently as the father of Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon character on “30 Rock.”
He is survived by his wife, Irene.
Mourners were able to find laughter amid their grief on social media:
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