Marc Wilmore
Born
Marc Edward Wilmore

(1963-05-04)May 4, 1963
Fontana, California, U.S.
DiedJanuary 30, 2021(2021-01-30) (aged 57)
Pomona, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Television writer, producer, actor, comedian
Years active1992–2021
SpouseSoumaya Wilmore
RelativesLarry Wilmore (brother)

Marc Edward Wilmore (May 4, 1963 – January 30, 2021) was an American television writer, producer, actor, and comedian. He wrote and performed for shows such as In Living Color, The PJs, The Simpsons, and F Is for Family. Wilmore was a 10-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee.[1] He was the younger brother of comedian Larry Wilmore.

Life and career

Marc Edward Wilmore was born on May 4, 1963,[2] to parents Betty and Larry[3][4] in Fontana, California. He had five siblings, one of whom, older brother Larry, is a television comic.[5] He was a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.[4]

In the early 1990s, Wilmore got a job as a writer on the sketch comedy series In Living Color. He was promoted to cast member during the show's final season.[4] Wilmore's impersonations included Isabel Sanford, Nell Carter, Carroll O'Connor, Robert Guillaume, Maya Angelou and James Earl Jones, and various sketches which re-imagined various television series such as All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show if they starred African-Americans. He received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for his work on the show.[1][4][6] After In Living Color, Wilmore wrote for The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno[4] and The PJs, a stop-motion adult sitcom co-created by his older brother Larry, where he also provided the voice of crooked police officer Walter Burkett.[7][8]

While working on The PJs, Wilmore participated in a prank organized by staff members of The Simpsons, where he pretended he was the mayor of East St. Louis, Illinois and angrily accosted writer Matt Selman over a joke that denigrated the city in the episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain". As compensation for his involvement with the joke, Wilmore was given a role in the season 11 episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", in which he played a psychologist.[9][10][11] Wilmore joined The Simpsons's writing staff in the show's thirteenth season, and received his first credit for the segment "Send in the Clones" in "Treehouse of Horror XIII".[11][12] He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program as a producer for the episode "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008.[1] In the 2010s, Wilmore worked as a writer and executive producer on F Is for Family, an animated sitcom co-created by Michael Price, who had worked with him on The PJs and The Simpsons. Wilmore also provided several voices in the series.[4]

Death

On January 30, 2021, Wilmore died at a hospital in Pomona, California. He was 57. According to his brother Larry, he died "while battling COVID and other conditions that have had him in pain for many years" amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[4] In The New York Times, Larry Wilmore related that his younger brother had long suffered health issues relating to a kidney transplant he had undergone in the 1990s.[2]

The penultimate episode of F Is for Family, "A Very Merry F***ing Christmas", is dedicated to him, as well as The Simpsons episode "Wad Goals".

Credits

Year Show Role
1992–1994 In Living Color Writer, cast member[4]
1995–1998 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Writer[4]
1999–2001 The PJs Writer
Voice actor (Walter Burkett)[7]
2000, 2002–2015 The Simpsons Writer
Guest voice actor[4]
2017–2020 F Is for Family Writer
Executive producer
Additional voices[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Marc Wilmore – Emmys & Nominations". Emmys.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  2. ^ a b De Leon, Concepcion (February 2021). "Marc Wilmore, a Television Comedy Writer and Producer, Dies at 57". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  3. ^ I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts. Hachette Books. 2015. p. Acknowledgments. ISBN 978-0316262811.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nordyke, Kimberly (February 2021). "Marc Wilmore, TV Writer and Brother of Comedian Larry Wilmore, Dies at 57". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  5. ^ Wilmore, Larry (January 20, 2009). I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts. Hachette Books. ISBN 9781401309558. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  6. ^ Fuster, Jeremy (January 31, 2021). "Marc Wilmore, Brother of Larry Wilmore and 'F Is For Family' Writer, Dies at 57". The Wrap. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Hal Erickson (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: The shows, M-Z. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-2256-2.
  8. ^ Bambi Haggins (2007). Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-soul America. Rutgers University Press. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-0-8135-3985-0.
  9. ^ Evans, Bradford (December 7, 2012). "Talking to Longtime 'Simpsons' Writer Matt Selman". Vulture.
  10. ^ Scully, Mike (2008). Commentary for "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  11. ^ a b Scully, Mike. (2007). Commentary for "They Saved Lisa's Brain", in The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  12. ^ Karma Waltonen; Denise Du Vernay (August 30, 2019). The Simpsons' Beloved Springfield: Essays on the TV Series and Town That Are Part of Us All. McFarland. pp. 268–. ISBN 978-1-4766-3612-2.

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