Jim Abrahams Passes On

Writer, director, and producer Jim Abrahams, who was part of the filmmaking team of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, died on November 26 2024 at the age of 80. He had leukaemia.

Jim Abrahams was born on May 10 1944 in Shorewood, Wisconsin. Jim Abrahams knew David and Jerry Zucker when the three of them were children. They attended the same synagogue, their father's were business colleagues, and the three of them attended both Shorewood High School and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

It was in 1971 that Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker founded a sketch comedy troupe known as  the Kentucky Fried Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin. The Kentucky Fried Theatre would lead to the first movie scripted by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977). The film was essentially a collection of movie parodies, sketches, and spoofs of television shows and movies. Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker would meet with enormous success with the first movie they both wrote and directed, Airplane! (1980).

Following Airplane!, Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker created the television series Police Squad!, starring Leslie Nielsen. While the show received low ratings and lasted for only six episodes, Police Squad! was well received by critics and nominated for two Emmy Awards. It also developed a cult following, and would lead to the series of Naked Gun movies. After Police Squad!, Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker wrote and directed the movie Top Secret! (1984).

Afterwards Jim Abrahams directed his first movie on his own, Ruthless People (1986), In the late Eighties he also directed Big Business (1988) and Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990). He co-wrote The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) with the Zucker Brothers. In the Nineties Jim Abrahams wrote and directed Hot Shots! (1991), Hot Shots! Part Dieux (1993), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). He later co-wrote Scary Movie 4 (2004) with Craig Mazin and Pat Proft.

Jim Abrahams and his wife Nancy founded The Charlie Foundation To Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy.

As both a writer and director, Jim Abrahams had a gift for zany, off-the-wall comedy. The gags often came fast and furious and a viewer would often have to pay careful attention to catch all of the sight gags, puns, and jokes. It was in this way that Zucker, Abraham, and Zucker produced such comedy gold as Airplane! and the TV series Police Squad!. Of course, Jim Abrahams also directed movies without the Zucker Brothers, including Ruthless People and Big Business. While he would have the occasional misfire, Jim Abrahams was an enormous talent.