Sam Simon was one of the key figures in creating The Simpsons, insisting that even though it was a cartoon series the characters had to be as fully developed and believable as in any sitcom involving real actors. His input was crucial to the programme’s extraordinary success. It became the longest-running, scripted primetime show in American TV history.
However, Simon had a spectacular falling out with Matt Groening, who had come up with the initial concept. Groening called Simon “unpleasant and mentally unbalanced” while Simon himself admitted that he could be very difficult to work with.
He left The Simpsons in 1993, walking away with a deal that included a continuing credit as executive producer which brought him millions of dollars every year, much of which he gave away to charity. Some called him “the unsung hero” of the show and there have been suggestions that his importance has been played down in the official retellings of The Simpsons story.
Groening told The New York Times in 2001: “Sam Simon is brilliantly funny and one of the smartest writers I’ve ever worked with . . .” before qualifying his praise with a frank assessment of his character. For his part Simon admitted that working too long on a single show would turn him into “a monster”. As well as helping to create The Simpsons, Simon worked as producer and writer on Taxi and Cheers, two hugely popular American sitcoms.
He always seemed to be looking for a fresh challenge. He became a boxing manager and guided Lamon Brewster to a world heavyweight title in 2004. He also played professional poker, and was said to have won more than $350,000.
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Nevertheless, he was unusually intent on giving much of his fortune away. Simon set up a luxury dog rescue centre in Malibu, California, and poured millions into it. He also provided the money for a Sea Shepherd ship — the vessels that are used to confront and hinder whaling ships. The ship was named after him. When Simon was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in 2012 and told he only had about six months to live he announced that he would leave his fortune to a variety of charities.
Samuel Michael Simon was born in Los Angeles in 1955. His mother owned an art gallery, his father had a successful clothing business and he grew up in the affluent Beverly Hills and Malibu areas. Neighbours included Groucho Marx. He demonstrated his drawing skills on television at an early age.
At Stanford University he studied psychology and was a cartoonist on the college newspaper, though he was reputedly denied admission to a drawing class because he was not considered good enough. As a student he drew cartoons for newspapers in San Francisco and after graduating he worked as a storyboard artist and writer at Filmation, a Californian animation studio.
Simon shone as a writer and thought he would try writing a storyline for the hit sitcom Taxi. His effort was accepted and he was hired and worked on the show as a regular writer and as producer. Subsequently he worked as writer and producer on several other shows, including The Tracey Ullman Show, which is how he became involved with The Simpsons.
Groening had come up with the initial idea. He had gone to see Simon’s colleague, the producer James L Brooks, to discuss the possibility of adapting his comic strip Life in Hell as an animated insert on The Tracey Ullman Show. While waiting in the lobby he came up with an alternative idea about an ordinary, modern, provincial American family, using his own relatives for inspiration.
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The cartoons ran on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons. The originals lasted only about a minute, but proved popular and Groening, Brooks and Simon developed the idea into a full-blown show, which would fill a half-hour slot. Simon placed a lot of emphasis not just on plots, but on the characters.
He insisted that the team follow standard sitcom procedures, with writers working collectively and actors reading their parts as an ensemble. He took a turn at writing and several of the other writers credited him with creating the show’s balance between anarchic humour and family life.
Simon later admitted he was sceptical about The Simpsons holding down a primetime slot and expected it to be cancelled after one series. This was seen as a lack of commitment by others, especially Groening, who was pinning his hopes on the success of the show.
A family sitcom that happened to appear in animated form, The Simpsons appealed to adults as well as children, though not President George HW Bush, who famously said that American families should be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons. In December 1999 Time magazine named it the best television series of the century.
Simon co-wrote some of the early episodes. There was always friction between him and Groening and Brooks, but Ken Levine, one of the early writers, said: “The real creative force behind The Simpsons was Sam Simon. The tone, the storytelling, the level of humour — that was all developed on Sam’s watch.
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“His comedy is all about character, not just a string of gags. In The Simpsons the characters are motivated by their emotions and their foibles. ‘What are they thinking?’ — that is Sam’s contribution.”
Simon was instrumental in the creation of several long-running characters, including Montgomery Burns and Chief Wiggum, but because he was sceptical that the show would run beyond one season he encouraged the writers to take chances and to pursue offbeat, potentially controversial and often downright surreal plotlines. He even adapted Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Raven for the first Halloween special. In an interview in 2009, he said: “I thought some people would like some aspects of it, but I wasn’t sure how many would come along for the full ride. It turned out I was incredibly wrong. Homer is now the prototype for every male lead on a comedy show.”
After The Simpsons, Simon cocreated The George Carlin Show, but his relationship with Carlin was even worse than with Groening and Brooks. Carlin said: “Sam Simon was a f***ing horrible person . . . very, very funny, extremely bright and brilliant, but an unhappy person who treated other people poorly.”
After leaving The Simpsons Simon never needed to work again. He had married the actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly in 1984, though they divorced in 1991. In 2000 he married Jami Ferrell, a Playboy playmate, but the marriage was shortlived. Latterly he had a long-term relationship with Jenna Stewart, a caterer. There were no children.
Increasingly he devoted his time and money to charities. He had several dogs and set up the Sam Simon Foundation to rescue strays and to train them to help disabled people and war veterans. He supported the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which renamed its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, after him.
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He also provided free vegan meals to families in need. Asked whether he was imposing his own values on the disadvantaged, he replied: “They can eat all the meat they want. I’m just not going to pay for it.” It was the same offbeat view of the world and quirky sense of humour that helped to make The Simpsons one of the most successful TV shows of all time.
Sam Simon, television writer, director and producer, was born on June 6, 1955. He died of cancer on March 8, 2015, aged 59