Dennis Marks (screenwriter)
| Dennis Marks | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 2, 1932 New York City, New York |
| Died | January 10, 2006 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Screenwriter, producer, voice actor |
| Years active | 1963–1992 |
Dennis Marks (August 2, 1932 – January 10, 2006) was an American screenwriter, producer and voice actor, mainly for children's animations. Marks wrote for several big production companies during the 1960s through to the 1990s, including Hanna-Barbera, DC and Marvel. He wrote screenplays and stories for many popular animation shows including Batfink, The Beatles, Dungeons & Dragons and Spider-Man, providing the voice for the Green Goblin in the latter. He also worked as a producer for Children's TV show Wonderama, chat show A.M. New York and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
Marks was born in New York City in 1932. His parents were vaudevillians, though Marks did not follow them to the stage despite showing a strong interest in performing magic tricks. He was awarded a bachelor's degree from Duke University in North Carolina, before serving in the United States Navy aboard the Lexington as a public information officer.
Marks began his career in entertainment writing with Alan Friedman as a song writing team. Their first song together was used in the off-Broadway revue Fallout (1959), which also included the first material by Martin Charnin. The pair were also signed by the BMI Musical Comedy program, but when Marks' agent offered him work in cartoons he took the offer alone. In a 2002 interview, Marks stated that he had been an avid comic book reader as a child and happily took the job.
Marks was hired by head of King Features TV, Al Brodax, to bring to television the comic strips of William Randolph Hearst, which the company handled. The first script Marks wrote was for a six-minute short of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith in 1963. It was accepted by the company and Marks began writing further cartoon scripts, completing at least eight more Snuffy Smiths and work on some Beetle Bailey cartoons. In between Marks had, with Friedman, continued to write songs for a Sherlock Holmes musical, and was hired as a junior screenwriter on the American Scene Magazine for The Jackie Gleason Show. Though after returning to New York from his honeymoon, Broadax offered Marks the screenwriting duties for a cartoon based on The Beatles, which decided Marks' career choice as a cartoon writer. Although uncredited, Marks, along with Jack Mendelsohn, Heywood Kling and Bruce Howard, wrote all 39 episodes of the Beatles' cartoon. In 1965, the Sherlock Holmes musical he had helped create, opened on Broadway as Baker Street, but without Marks on board.
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