Joyce rebeta burditt biography

Joyce Rebeta-Burditt Dies; ‘Diagnosis: Murder’ Creator was 83
Joyce Rebeta-Burditt, a bestselling author who went on to create the long-running Dick Van Dyke drama Diagnosis Murder, died in Los Angeles on June 2. She was 83.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Rebeta-Burditt authored the ground-breaking roman a clef, The Cracker Factor, about a housewife who enters a mental hospital to treat her alcoholism. The 1977 Macmillan book became a New York Times bestseller and was made into a TV movie of the same name starring Natalie Wood. The lead character, Cassie Barrett, was based on Rebeta-Burditt’s early life as a young married raising three small children.

“I think being a housewife is the most underrated job in the world. It is a perfect setup if one is predisposed to be an alcoholic,” Rebeta-Burditt told People Magazine in 1977. “My husband had to take over much of the mothering. And my own mother was around a lot. I adopted the attitude and behavior of an oldest child.
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Burditt, Joyce

(Joyce Rebeta-Burditt)

PERSONAL

Affiliated with George Burditt (a producer and writer).

Addresses:Agent—Richard Weitz, Endeavor, 9601 Wilshire Blvd., Sixth Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Career: Producer and writer. ABC-TV, New York City, worked as a programming executive; NBC-TV, worked as a vice president for comedy development. Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, affiliate.

CREDITS

Television Work; Series:

Producer, Matlock, NBC, 1989–91.

Producer and executive story consultant, Father Dowling Mysteries (also known as Father Dowling Investigates), ABC, c. 1990–91.

Creator and supervising producer, Diagnosis Murder, CBS, 1993–95.

Also worked as story editor for Matlock, NBC and ABC.

Television Executive Producer; Movies:

Mystery Woman: Game Time, The Hallmark Channel, 2005.

Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend, The Hallmark Channel, 2005.

Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder, The Hallmark Channel, 2005.

Mystery Woman: Snapshot, The Hallmark Channel, 2005.

Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder, The Hallmark Channel, 20

 

Joyce Rebeta-Burditt has enjoyed a career as a novelist, TV executive, and series television writer. Learn more about her career at imdb. Follow her personal author blog at joyce.crackerfactorybooks.com

Her first novel, her real-life story, THE CRACKER FACTORY, was a national bestseller before becoming an ABC movie-of-the-week starring Natalie Wood and Shelley Long. Joyce appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson three times, did Larry King’s radio show, plus Mike Douglas, Phil Donahue, and all the morning shows from Seattle to Boston to Dallas. Joyce went on to work at NBC as Vice President of Comedy Development. She wrote and produced Matlock starring Andy Griffith, Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr, and Father Dowling Mysteries starring Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson. She then created Diagnosis Murder starring Dick Van Dyke and most recently wrote and produced the Hallmark television series Mystery Woman.

THE CRACKER FACTORY 2: WELCOME TO WOMEN'S GROUP continues Joyce's true story, 40 sober years later.

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Joyce Rebeta-Burditt

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