Herb Gardner

• Name — Herb Gardner • Birth Name — Herbert George Gardner • Born — 28 December 1934 • Birthplace — New York City, New York, U.S. • Died — 24 September 2003 • Place of death — New York City, New York, U.S. • Education — High School of Performing Arts Carnegie Mellon University Antioch College • Occupation — Commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter • Spouse — Rita Gardner (m. 1957, div. 1970) Barbara Sproul (m. 1978–his death) • Children — 2 Herbert George Gardner (December 28, 1934 – September 24, 2003) was an American commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gardner was the son of a bar owner. His family was Jewish. Gardner's late brother, Robert Allen Gardner, was a professor of comparative psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno and is famous for teaming with his wife Beatrix Gardner on Project Washoe, the attempt to teach American Sign Language to a chimpanzee named Washoe.

Gardner was educated at New York's High School of Performing Arts, Carnegie-Mellon University and Antioch College. While a student at Antioch, he began drawing The Nebbishes. The comic strip was picked up by the Chicago Tribune and syndicated to 60-75 major newspapers from 1959 to 1961. Even before syndication, the Gardner characters were a national craze, marketed on statuettes, studio cards, barware (including cocktail napkins), wall decorations and posters. In 1960, after "the balloons were getting larger and larger, and there was hardly any drawing left", he dropped it and began writing plays.

Gardner's autobiographical novel, A Piece of the Action, was published in 1958. Gardner was the screenwriter and co-producer of the 1971 motion picture Who Is Harry Kellerman, and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, which starred Dustin Hoffman.

Gardner married his first wife, actress Rita Gardner (Schier), in 1957. The marriage ended in divorce in 1970. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was the boyfriend of actress Marlo Thomas. In 1978 Gardner married Barbara Sproul, professor of religion at Hunter College, with whom he raised two adopted sons, Jake Gardner and Rafferty Gardner. They remained married until his death.

Gardner died in his Manhattan apartment from complications of lung disease on September 25, 2003, aged 68.