Bernard Slade

Bernard Slade Newbound (May 2, 1930 – October 30, 2019) was a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he created the sitcoms The Flying Nun and The Partridge Family. As a playwright, he wrote Same Time, Next Year, Tribute, and Romantic Comedy and their film adaptations. He received a Tony Award nomination for Same Time, Next Year, and an Oscar nomination for the screen adaptation. Early years Slade was born in St. Catharines, Ontario in May 1930, the son of Bessie Harriet (Walbourne) and Frederick Newbound. Slade moved to England with his family at age five. After he returned to Canada, he worked as a steward on Trans Canada Airlines for a while before he went into acting as a career. Career Slade began his career as an actor in repertory theatre in England. He also acted with the Garden Center Theatre in Vineland, Ontario. In the mid-1960s, he relocated to Hollywood and began to work at Screen Gems as a writer for television sitcoms, including Bewitched (including the 7th episode, "The Witches Are Out," which introduced Aunt Clara). When ABC gave him the opportunity to create a series, he devised Love on a Rooftop, similar in theme to Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, about a young couple living in a windowless walk-up apartment with access to a rooftop with a view of San Francisco.