By Shannonn Kelly

I’m sad to report that Oscar nominated Marx Brothers’ writer and respected director, Irving Brecher is dead at 94.

Brecher died of age-related causes at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on November 17, 2008.

I was listening to podcast of "FilmWeek " with host Larry Mantle back in September and actor Robert Wagner was a guest that day promoting his new memoir, "Pieces of My Heart ".

It was obvious Brecher still had comedy running through his veins, because when he called into the show, he said he was glad to be able to see "Sail A Crooked Ship" on late night TV the previous day before Wagner kicked the bucket. Brecher wrote and directed "Sail A Crooked Ship " starring Ernie Kovacs and young Robert Wagner in 1961.

Brecher enjoyed early success as a screenwriter for the Marx Brothers. He was the only writer to get sole credit on a Marx Brothers film including "At the Circus " in 1939 and "Go West" in 1940.

He was also one of the numerous uncredited writers on the screenplay of 1939’s "The Wizard of Oz ".

Some of his other screenplays were "Shadow of the Thin Man " (1941) (one of my favorites), "Ziegfeld Follies " (1946) and "Bye Bye Birdie " (1963). Also notably he wrote vaudeville sketches for comic legend Milton Berle.

Brecher received an Academy Award nomination in 1944 for his screenplay of "Meet Me in St Louis ".

His memoir is scheduled for 2008 publication by Ben Yehuda Press .

To read more about the long and noteworthy career of Irving Brecher, please click here -