Jack Rosenthal wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.
25 Facts About Jack Rosenthal
2.
Jack Morris Rosenthal was born into a Jewish family on 8 September 1931, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.
3.
Jack Rosenthal was the younger of two sons to father Sam, a raincoat factory worker, and mother Leah Rosenthal.
4.
Jack Rosenthal's parents were married in 1927 in Manchester, and were children of Russian Jewish immigrants.
5.
Jack Rosenthal worked briefly in advertising before joining Granada Television in 1956.
6.
Jack Rosenthal earned his first television credit with Granada in 1961, assigned as a writer of episode 31 of what would become Britain's longest-running soap opera, Coronation Street.
7.
Jack Rosenthal became a regular writer for the series and, in addition, began writing for other series.
8.
Jack Rosenthal created two comedy series, The Dustbinmen and The Lovers, the latter starring Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox.
9.
Jack Rosenthal won three BAFTA awards for Bar Mitzvah Boy, The Evacuees and Spend, Spend, Spend.
10.
Jack Rosenthal wrote The Knowledge, a film about London taxi-drivers which has become a classic for cabbies-in-training.
11.
Jack Rosenthal wrote the 1986 television film London's Burning for London Weekend Television, which proved so successful that it was adapted into a television series of the same name, which ran from 1988 until 2002.
12.
Jack Rosenthal adapted the novel The Devil's Lieutenant for director John Goldschmidt as a mini-series for Channel 4 and ZDF.
13.
Jack Rosenthal wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Captain Jack for Goldschmidt as producer.
14.
In 1983, Jack Rosenthal co-wrote the film Yentl with Barbra Streisand.
15.
Jack Rosenthal did uncredited work on the screenplay of Chicken Run, and wrote the book for the musical version of Bar Mitzvah Boy, with music by Jule Styne.
16.
On 23 February 1964, Jack Rosenthal married model Catherine Ward in Blackpool, Lancashire; two years later, the marriage ended in divorce.
17.
Jack Rosenthal met actress Maureen Lipman in 1969 in a pub in Manchester while Jack Rosenthal was writing for Coronation Street.
18.
Jack Rosenthal married Lipman on 18 February 1973 in Marylebone, London; they had two children, writers Amy and Adam Rosenthal, and lived in a large house in Muswell Hill, north London.
19.
Jack Rosenthal was a lifelong Manchester United fan, listing his recreations in Who's Who as "checking Manchester United's score, minute by minute, on teletext".
20.
In 2002, Jack Rosenthal was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of bone cancer.
21.
Jack Rosenthal died on 24 May 2004 at the North London Hospice in Barnet, north London, aged 72.
22.
Jack Rosenthal's funeral took place in December 2004 and he is buried in Golders Green Jewish Cemetery.
23.
Jack Rosenthal was appointed CBE in 1994, for services to drama.
24.
Jack Rosenthal received four honorary degrees from northern Universities including an honorary doctorate from Sheffield University in 1998 and a degree from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2002.
25.
Rosenthal's autobiography, By Jack Rosenthal, was published posthumously, and a four-part adaptation by his daughter, titled Jack Rosenthal's Last Act was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2006, starring Maureen Lipman as herself and Stephen Mangan as Rosenthal.