The television industry has lost one of its influential comedy storytellers. Bernie Orenstein, the writer and producer behind classic sitcoms such as Sanford and Son, Kate & Allie, and The New Dick Van Dyke Show, has died at 95. His family confirmed the news of his passing (via Deadline). Orenstein died on September 14, 2026.
Born in Toronto in 1931, Orenstein began his career in the entertainment industry in 1956 by writing for TV shows such as The Barris Beat, Folio, and Candid Camera. It wasn’t until 1967’s That Girl, starring Marlo Thomas, that he found great success, which ran for 26 episodes. The show was followed by a sequel series, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, on which Orenstein also served as a writer and consultant.
Through his partnership with Saul Turteltaub, Orenstein worked on over a dozen TV shows. These include shows such as Sanford and Son, the NBC sitcom starring Redd Foxx, Grady, Sanford Arms, What’s Happening!! and more. He also appeared in front of the camera on some of the shows he worked on. Orenstein worked with several notable personalities, including Joan Rivers, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and more.
Besides writing TV comedies, Orenstein also served as a mentor and educator at Long Island University Brooklyn’s TV Writers Studio MFA program. During an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2016, he said he wanted to be remembered “by the body of work and the fact that I never hurt anybody.”
He is survived by his wife of more than four decades, Barbara Rhoades Orenstein, four children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
The ComingSoon team sends condolences to Orenstein’s friends and family at this time.
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