David W. Duclon, the creator of Punky Brewster who also produced a handful of hit sitcoms, including Family Matters, Silver Spoons, The Jeffersons and Laverne & Shirley, has died. He was 74.
Duclon died Wednesday morning in Franklin, Tennessee, after a long illness, his daughter Danielle Duclon told The Hollywood Reporter.
Born Warren David Duclon on April 27, 1950, in Rockford, Illinois, he first made his way into Hollywood in 1972 as a writer and assistant producer on The Odd Couple, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.
As Duclon continued his career in television, he clearly had a knack for sitcoms. He later joined Happy Days, starring Henry Winkler and Ron Howard, as a writer in 1976, as well as Laverne & Shirley, starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, that same year. Duclon also served as a producer on the latter.
It wouldn’t be until 1984 that Duclon released his own sitcom, Punky Brewster. The series ran for four seasons until 1988, and followed a young girl named Penelope “Punky” Brewster who is abandoned by her parents and ends up in the care of a widowed photographer.
Duclon earned two Emmy nominations for the original Punky Brewster, including best children’s program in 1986 and 1986.
Peacock later released a reboot in 2021, which saw Punky Brewster all grown up with kids of her own. Duclon executive produced the series that only ran for one season.
Duclon also co-created Silver Spoons with Ron Leavitt, which ran for five seasons from 1982 to 1987. The show followed Ricky Stratton, a spoiled rich kid who lives the life that many kids dream of, but he still suffers from the problems that many teens do.
Throughout his TV career, Duclon wrote eight episodes of The Jeffersons and also served as an executive producer on Norman Lear’s hit series. He later wrote and executive produced Family Matters. His other credits included Boys Will Be Boys, On Our Own, Built to Last, Guys Like Us, Malcolm & Eddie, Eve, Working Stiffs and Makin’ It.
In 2017, Duclon also wrote the book, Once Upon a Christmas: Part One of the Unlikely Life of David Duncan.
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