Steven Bochco

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Steven Bochco bigraphy, stories - Television producer and writer

Steven Bochco : biography

16 December 1943 –

Steven Ronald Bochco (born December 16, 1943) is a US television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock.

Awards

Emmy Awards

  • 1981 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
  • 1981 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station" (premiere episode)
  • 1982 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
  • 1982 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues, "Freedom’s Last Stand"
  • 1983 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
  • 1984 Outstanding Drama Series, for Hill Street Blues
  • 1987 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law
  • 1987 Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, for L.A. Law, "The Venus Butterfly"
  • 1989 Outstanding Drama Series, for L.A. Law
  • 1995 Outstanding Drama Series, for NYPD Blue

Humanitas Prize

  • 1981 60-minute Category, for Hill Street Blues
  • 1999 90-Minute Category, for NYPD Blue

Edgar Awards

  • 1982 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for Hill Street Blues, "Hill Street Station"
  • 1995 Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay, for NYPD Blue, "Simone Says"

Directors Guild of America

  • 1999 Diversity Award

Writers Guild of America

  • 1994 Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement

Early life

Bochco was born in New York City, the son of Mimi, a painter, and Rudolph Bochco, a concert violinist.http://www.filmreference.com/film/38/Steven-Bochco.htmlhttp://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60913F73D5E167493CAA9178BD95F438785F9 He was educated in Manhattan at the High School of Music and Art. His elder sister is actress Joanna Frank. In 1961, he enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (after merging with the Mellon Institute in 1967, now known as Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh to study playwriting and theater. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Theater in 1966, having also had an MCA Writing Fellowship.

Personal life

In 1970, he married actress Barbara Bosson, who appeared as a regular on Hill Street Blues. They had two children before divorcing in 1997. He is currently married to Dayna Kalins (m. August 12, 2000). His son, Jesse Bochco, by Bosson, was a producer/director on NYPD Blue and directed the pilot episode of Raising the Bar. Jesse Bochco also appeared as Captain Furillo’s son, Frank Jr. (with Bosson playing his mother) on Hill Street Blues. Jesse has directed several episodes of his father’s shows, including NYPD Blue, Philly and Over There.

Career

Bochco went to work for Universal Pictures as a writer and then story editor on Ironside, Columbo, McMillan & Wife and the short-lived Lorne Greene and Ben Murphy series, Griff, as well as Delvecchio and The Invisible Man. He wrote the story and teleplay for Columbo: Murder by the book (1971) and the teleplay only for several other episodes. He wrote the screenplay for the 1968 television movie The Counterfeit Killer and worked on Silent Running (1972) and Double Indemnity (1973). He left Universal in 1978 to go to MTM Enterprises where he had greater scope for producing. His first effort there was the short-lived CBS police drama Paris, notable as the first series on which James Earl Jones played a lead role.

He achieved major success for NBC with the police drama Hill Street Blues. It ran from 1981 to 1987 and Bochco was credited as co-creator and also wrote and produced. The series also garnered considerable critical acclaim and many awards, and was nominated for a total of 98 Emmy Awards throughout its run. Bochco was fired from MTM in 1985 following the failure of Bay City Blues (1983).