Gerald Weil Nachman was born in Oakland, California on January 13, 1938. He received an associate of arts degree from Merritt College and a bachelor of arts degree from San Jose State University. While still a student, he worked as a TV reviewer and humor columnist for the San Jose Mercury. He was a feature writer for the New York Post from 1964 to 1966, a columnist and film critic for the Oakland Tribune from 1967 to 1971, a feature writer and TV critic for the New York Daily News from 1972 to 1979, and a columnist and theater critic for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993.
He wrote several books including Playing House: From Marital Ecstasy to Despair and Back Again; Raised on Radio; Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s; Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan's America; The Fragile Bachelor: Perilous Adventures in the Single Life; Out on a Whim: Some Very Close Brushes with Life; and Showstoppers! The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway's Most Remarkable Songs. The two anthologies of his humor pieces were entitled The Fragile Bachelor: Perilous Adventures in the Single Life and Out on a Whim: Some Very Close Brushes with Life. He died on April 14, 2018 at the age of 80.
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