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Jerome Coopersmith
Jerome Coopersmith

Jerome Coopersmith

Jerome Coopersmith (1925-2023) was a distinguished dramatist who wrote plays for television and stage, and audio dramas for radio broadcasting.

He earned a Tony Nomination for his play Baker Street, the Broadway musical based on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It remains the only theatre event in history to feature the great detective singing while in pursuit of the evil Professor Moriarty. He co-authored The Apple Tree, the 3-part Broadway musical for which he adapted the Mark Twain stories of Adam and Eve. The role of Adam was made famous by Alan Alda in the original production. His play Eleanor, about the early life of Eleanor Roosevelt, was selected by the Smithsonian Institution to be performed in Washington DC in conjunction with the Eleanor Roosevelt Centennial. It was also performed at Hunter College with Jane Alexander in the leading role.

For television, he was a principal writer of the original record-breaking series Hawaii 5-0, for which he wrote 32 episodes, including two of feature length. He also penned other well-known series, including Streets of San Francisco and Spenser for Hire. In addition, he wrote half a dozen made-for-TV movies, including An American Christmas Carol starring Henry Winkler, available on Amazon. He was the originator, with David Sussking, of The Armstrong Circle Theatre, a series of one-hour dramas based on true events; the series ran on both NBC and CBS.

Mr. Coopersmith also served as an adjunct professor in the City Colleges of New York; he taught scriptwriting classes at Hunter College and Brooklyn College.

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